singularly

«singularly» in Mova's school dictionary: very, unusually or especially, often in a surprising way — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

part of speech

adverb

meaning for a pupil

1) (formal) Singularly means very, unusually or especially, often in a surprising way. tree →

2) Singularly can also mean one at a time, separately, though «singly» is more common for this. tree →

sense in the lessons

Mostly found in old books and formal writing: «a singularly ugly hat», «singularly unhelpful». Old-fashioned narrators in Alice and The Wind in the Willows use such words for a grand or funny tone. In maths, «singular» means one (singular and plural), but «singularly» almost always means «very».

examples

• It was a singularly cold morning for June. tree →
• The Mole found the Wild Wood singularly unfriendly. tree →
• He was singularly unlucky with the weather on his holidays. tree →
• The answer was singularly clear. tree →
• Toad was singularly pleased with himself. tree →
• That was a singularly bad idea. tree →
• You seem to be a singularly thoughtless little girl." tree →

note

From «singular» (single, unusual). Formal and rather old-fashioned; in everyday speech say «very», «really» or «unusually». It does not mean «sadly» or «alone».

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «singularly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.