INDIVIDUALITY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does individuality mean? 

• INDIVIDUALITY (noun)
  The noun INDIVIDUALITY has 2 senses:

1. the quality of being individual

2. the distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity

  Familiarity information: INDIVIDUALITY used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• INDIVIDUALITY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The quality of being individual

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

individualism; individuality; individuation

Context example:

so absorbed by the movement that she lost all sense of individuality

Hypernyms ("individuality" is a kind of...):

trait (a distinguishing feature of your personal nature)

Attribute:

individual; single (being or characteristic of a single thing or person)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "individuality"):

singularity; uniqueness (the quality of being one of a kind)

distinctiveness; peculiarity; speciality; specialness; specialty (a distinguishing trait)

Antonym:

commonality (sharing of common attributes)

Derivation:

individual (being or characteristic of a single thing or person)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The distinct personality of an individual regarded as a persisting entity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

identity; individuality; personal identity

Context example:

you can lose your identity when you join the army

Hypernyms ("individuality" is a kind of...):

personality (the complex of all the attributes--behavioral, temperamental, emotional and mental--that characterize a unique individual)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "individuality"):

gender identity (your identity as it is experienced with regard to your individuality as male or female; awareness normally begin in infancy and is reinforced during adolescence)

identification (the attribution to yourself (consciously or unconsciously) of the characteristics of another person (or group of persons))

personhood (being a person)

 Context examples 

The set of characteristics by which a thing or person is recognized or known and that constitutes it's individuality or set inclusion.

(Identity, NCI Thesaurus)

Nothing has more individuality, save perhaps watches and bootlaces.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

What can you gather yourself as to the individuality of the man who has worn this article?

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Later on, when each developed individuality and became personally conscious of impulsions and desires, the attraction of the light increased.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

It is a curious thing, remarked Holmes, that a typewriter has really quite as much individuality as a man’s handwriting.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

When I tell you that his shoes were square-toed instead of being pointed like Blessington’s, and were quite an inch and a third longer than the doctor’s, you will acknowledge that there can be no doubt as to his individuality.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)