"single out" meaning in English

See single out in All languages combined, or Wiktionary

Verb

IPA: /ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈaʊ̯t/ [Canada, General-American, Received-Pronunciation], /ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈæɔ̯t/ [General-Australian], /ˌsəŋ.ɡəl ˈæʊ̯t/ [New-Zealand], /ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈʌʊ̯t/ [Scotland], /ˌsɪŋ.ɡel ˈawʈ/ [India] Audio: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-single out.wav Forms: singles out [present, singular, third-person], singling out [participle, present], singled out [participle, past], singled out [past]
enPR: sĭng′gəl out′ Etymology: From single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out. First attested in 1629. Etymology templates: {{com|en|single<t:to take alone, or one by one><pos:intransitive archaic verb>|out}} single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out, {{etydate|1629}} First attested in 1629 Head templates: {{en-verb|*}} single out (third-person singular simple present singles out, present participle singling out, simple past and past participle singled out)
  1. (transitive, idiomatic) To select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently. Tags: idiomatic, transitive Synonyms: mark out, pick out Related terms: in the crosshairs, in the limelight, in the spotlight, peel off, pick off, separate [verb] Translations (to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently): ottaa silmätikuksi (english: when treated negatively) (Finnish), kohdella toisin kuin muita (Finnish), distinguer (French), singulariser (French), gesondert behandeln (German), aussondern (German), auswählen (German), eccettuare (Italian), и́збере (ízbere) (Macedonian), и́здвои (ízdvoi) (Macedonian), о́ддели (óddeli) (Macedonian), о́двои (ódvoi) (Macedonian), обособля́ть (obosobljátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), обосо́бить (obosóbitʹ) [perfective] (Russian), отбира́ть (otbirátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), отобра́ть (otobrátʹ) [perfective] (Russian), вычленя́ть (vyčlenjátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), вы́членить (výčlenitʹ) [perfective] (Russian), выделя́ть (vydeljátʹ) [imperfective] (Russian), вы́делить (výdelitʹ) [perfective] (Russian), seleccionar (Spanish), singularizar (Spanish)

Inflected forms

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        "2": "single<t:to take alone, or one by one><pos:intransitive archaic verb>",
        "3": "out"
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      "expansion": "single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out",
      "name": "com"
    },
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "1629"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in 1629",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out. First attested in 1629.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "singles out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "singling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
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    {
      "form": "singled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
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      "form": "singled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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        "1": "*"
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      "expansion": "single out (third-person singular simple present singles out, present participle singling out, simple past and past participle singled out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "sin",
        "gle out"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              6,
              17
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          "text": "Yvonne always wondered why Ernest had singled her out of the group of giggling girls she hung around with.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "For quotations using this term, see Citations:single out."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently."
      ],
      "id": "en-single_out-en-verb-AdfvIBHV",
      "links": [
        [
          "select",
          "select"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group#English:_related_objects"
        ],
        [
          "highlight",
          "highlight"
        ],
        [
          "treat",
          "treat"
        ],
        [
          "differently",
          "differently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently."
      ],
      "related": [
        {
          "word": "in the crosshairs"
        },
        {
          "word": "in the limelight"
        },
        {
          "word": "in the spotlight"
        },
        {
          "word": "peel off"
        },
        {
          "word": "pick off"
        },
        {
          "tags": [
            "verb"
          ],
          "word": "separate"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mark out"
        },
        {
          "word": "pick out"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "english": "when treated negatively",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "translation": "when treated negatively",
          "word": "ottaa silmätikuksi"
        },
        {
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "kohdella toisin kuin muita"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "distinguer"
        },
        {
          "code": "fr",
          "lang": "French",
          "lang_code": "fr",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "singulariser"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "gesondert behandeln"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "aussondern"
        },
        {
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "auswählen"
        },
        {
          "code": "it",
          "lang": "Italian",
          "lang_code": "it",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "eccettuare"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "lang_code": "mk",
          "roman": "ízbere",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "и́збере"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "lang_code": "mk",
          "roman": "ízdvoi",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "и́здвои"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "lang_code": "mk",
          "roman": "óddeli",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "о́ддели"
        },
        {
          "code": "mk",
          "lang": "Macedonian",
          "lang_code": "mk",
          "roman": "ódvoi",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "о́двои"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "obosobljátʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "обособля́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "obosóbitʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "обосо́бить"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "otbirátʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "отбира́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "otobrátʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "отобра́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "vyčlenjátʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "вычленя́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "výčlenitʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "вы́членить"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "vydeljátʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "imperfective"
          ],
          "word": "выделя́ть"
        },
        {
          "code": "ru",
          "lang": "Russian",
          "lang_code": "ru",
          "roman": "výdelitʹ",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "tags": [
            "perfective"
          ],
          "word": "вы́делить"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "seleccionar"
        },
        {
          "code": "es",
          "lang": "Spanish",
          "lang_code": "es",
          "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
          "word": "singularizar"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "sĭng′gəl out′"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈaʊ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-single out.wav",
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈæɔ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsəŋ.ɡəl ˈæʊ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈʌʊ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡel ˈawʈ/",
      "tags": [
        "India"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "single out"
}
{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "single<t:to take alone, or one by one><pos:intransitive archaic verb>",
        "3": "out"
      },
      "expansion": "single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out",
      "name": "com"
    },
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      "args": {
        "1": "1629"
      },
      "expansion": "First attested in 1629",
      "name": "etydate"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "From single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out. First attested in 1629.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "singles out",
      "tags": [
        "present",
        "singular",
        "third-person"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "singling out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "present"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "singled out",
      "tags": [
        "participle",
        "past"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "singled out",
      "tags": [
        "past"
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      "args": {
        "1": "*"
      },
      "expansion": "single out (third-person singular simple present singles out, present participle singling out, simple past and past participle singled out)",
      "name": "en-verb"
    }
  ],
  "hyphenations": [
    {
      "parts": [
        "sin",
        "gle out"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "verb",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "in the crosshairs"
    },
    {
      "word": "in the limelight"
    },
    {
      "word": "in the spotlight"
    },
    {
      "word": "peel off"
    },
    {
      "word": "pick off"
    },
    {
      "tags": [
        "verb"
      ],
      "word": "separate"
    }
  ],
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        "English compound terms",
        "English entries with incorrect language header",
        "English idioms",
        "English lemmas",
        "English multiword terms",
        "English phrasal verbs",
        "English phrasal verbs formed with \"out\"",
        "English terms with usage examples",
        "English transitive verbs",
        "English verbs",
        "Entries with translation boxes",
        "Pages with 1 entry",
        "Pages with entries",
        "Terms with Finnish translations",
        "Terms with French translations",
        "Terms with German translations",
        "Terms with Italian translations",
        "Terms with Macedonian translations",
        "Terms with Russian translations",
        "Terms with Spanish translations"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          "text": "Eddie singled out his favorite marble from the bag.",
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          "bold_text_offsets": [
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              38,
              45
            ],
            [
              50,
              53
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Yvonne always wondered why Ernest had singled her out of the group of giggling girls she hung around with.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "text": "For quotations using this term, see Citations:single out."
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "To select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "select",
          "select"
        ],
        [
          "group",
          "group#English:_related_objects"
        ],
        [
          "highlight",
          "highlight"
        ],
        [
          "treat",
          "treat"
        ],
        [
          "differently",
          "differently"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(transitive, idiomatic) To select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "mark out"
        },
        {
          "word": "pick out"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "idiomatic",
        "transitive"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "enpr": "sĭng′gəl out′"
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈaʊ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "Canada",
        "General-American",
        "Received-Pronunciation"
      ]
    },
    {
      "audio": "LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-single out.wav",
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    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈæɔ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "General-Australian"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsəŋ.ɡəl ˈæʊ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "New-Zealand"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈʌʊ̯t/",
      "tags": [
        "Scotland"
      ]
    },
    {
      "ipa": "/ˌsɪŋ.ɡel ˈawʈ/",
      "tags": [
        "India"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "english": "when treated negatively",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "translation": "when treated negatively",
      "word": "ottaa silmätikuksi"
    },
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "kohdella toisin kuin muita"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "distinguer"
    },
    {
      "code": "fr",
      "lang": "French",
      "lang_code": "fr",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "singulariser"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "gesondert behandeln"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "aussondern"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "auswählen"
    },
    {
      "code": "it",
      "lang": "Italian",
      "lang_code": "it",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "eccettuare"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "ízbere",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "и́збере"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "ízdvoi",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "и́здвои"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "óddeli",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "о́ддели"
    },
    {
      "code": "mk",
      "lang": "Macedonian",
      "lang_code": "mk",
      "roman": "ódvoi",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "о́двои"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "obosobljátʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "обособля́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "obosóbitʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "обосо́бить"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "otbirátʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "отбира́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "otobrátʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "отобра́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "vyčlenjátʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "вычленя́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "výčlenitʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "вы́членить"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "vydeljátʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "imperfective"
      ],
      "word": "выделя́ть"
    },
    {
      "code": "ru",
      "lang": "Russian",
      "lang_code": "ru",
      "roman": "výdelitʹ",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "tags": [
        "perfective"
      ],
      "word": "вы́делить"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "seleccionar"
    },
    {
      "code": "es",
      "lang": "Spanish",
      "lang_code": "es",
      "sense": "to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently",
      "word": "singularizar"
    }
  ],
  "word": "single out"
}

Download raw JSONL data for single out meaning in English (8.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable English dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-01-25 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-01-01 using wiktextract (f492ef9 and 9905b1f). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.