one Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun the smallest whole number or a numeral representing this number
    ace; I; unity; 1; single.
    • he has the one but will need a two and three to go with it
    • they had lunch at one
  2. noun a single person or thing
    • he is the best one
    • this is the one I ordered
  3. adjective satellite used of a single unit or thing; not two or more
    1; i; ane.
    • `ane' is Scottish
  4. adjective satellite having the indivisible character of a unit
    unitary.
    • a unitary action
    • spoke with one voice
  5. adjective satellite of the same kind or quality
    • two animals of one species
  6. adjective satellite used informally as an intensifier
    • that is one fine dog
  7. adjective satellite indefinite in time or position
    • he will come one day
    • one place or another
  8. adjective satellite being a single entity made by combining separate components
    • three chemicals combining into one solution
  9. adjective satellite eminent beyond or above comparison
    unrivaled; unrivalled; one and only; peerless; unmatched; matchless; unmatchable; nonpareil.
    • matchless beauty
    • the team's nonpareil center fielder
    • she's one girl in a million
    • the one and only Muhammad Ali
    • a peerless scholar
    • infamy unmatched in the Western world
    • wrote with unmatchable clarity
    • unrivaled mastery of her art

WordNet

One adjective
Etymology
OE. one, on, an, AS. än; akin to D. een, OS. ën, OFries. ën, än, G. ein, Dan. een, Sw. en, Icel. einn, Goth. ains, W. un, Ir. & Gael. aon, L. unus, earlier oinos, oenos, Gr. the ace on dice; cf. Skr. ëka. The same word as the indefinite article a, an. &root; 299. Cf. 2d A, 1st An, Alone, Anon, Any, None, Nonce, Only, Onion, Unit.
Definitions
  1. Being a single unit, or entire being or thing, and no more; not multifold; single; individual.
    The dream of Pharaoh is one. Gen. xli. 25.
    O that we now had here But one ten thousand of those men in England. Shak.
  2. Denoting a person or thing conceived or spoken of indefinitely; a certain. "I am the sister of one Claudio" [Shak.], that is, of a certain man named Claudio.
  3. Pointing out a contrast, or denoting a particular thing or person different from some other specified; -- used as a correlative adjective, with or without the.
    From the one side of heaven unto the other. Deut. iv. 32.
  4. Closely bound together; undivided; united; constituting a whole.
    The church is therefore one, though the members may be many. Bp. Pearson
  5. Single in kind; the same; a common.
    One plague was on you all, and on your lords. 1 Sam. vi. 4.
  6. Single; inmarried. Obs.
    Men may counsel a woman to be one. Chaucer.
    ✍ One is often used in forming compound words, the meaning of which is obvious; as, one-armed, one-celled, one-eyed, one-handed, one-hearted, one-horned, one-idead, one-leaved, one-masted, one-ribbed, one-story, one-syllable, one-stringed, one-winged, etc.
One noun
Definitions
  1. A single unit; as, one is the base of all numbers.
  2. A symbol representing a unit, as 1, or i.
  3. A single person or thing. "The shining ones." Bunyan. "Hence, with your little ones." Shak.
    He will hate the one, and love the other. Matt. vi. 24.
    That we may sit, one on thy right hand, and the other on thy left hand, in thy glory. Mark x. 37.
    one on one, (in a contest) contesting an opponent individually; go one on one, (in a game, esp. basketball) to contest one opponent by oneself.
One indefinite pronoun
Definitions
  1. Any person, indefinitely; a person or body; as, what one would have well done, one should do one's self.
    It was well worth one's while. Hawthorne.
    Against this sort of condemnation one must steel one's self as one best can. G. Eliot.
    One is often used with some, any, no, each, every, such, a, many a, another, the other, etc. It is sometimes joined with another, to denote a reciprocal relation.
    When any one heareth the word. Matt. xiii. 19.
    She knew every one who was any one in the land of Bohemia. Compton Reade.
    The Peloponnesians and the Athenians fought against one another. Jowett (Thucyd. ).
    The gentry received one another. Thackeray.
One transitive verb
Definitions
  1. To cause to become one; to gather into a single whole; to unite; to assimilite. Obs.
    The rich folk that embraced and oned all their heart to treasure of the world. Chaucer.

Webster 1913