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singularity (n.)

early 13c., singularite, "unusual or exceptional behavior;" mid-14c as "singleness of aim or purpose, devotion to a single thing;" late 14c. as "individual or particular things," from Old French singulerte "peculiarity" (12c., Modern French singularité) and directly from Late Latin singularitatem (nominative singularitas) "a being alone," from singularis "single, solitary, one by one, one at a time; peculiar, remarkable," from singulus "one, one to each, individual, separate" (see single (adj.)).

The meaning "fact of being different from others" is attested from c. 1500. The mathematical sense of "point at which a function takes an infinite value" is from 1893. Astrophysics sense, "point of space where the density of matter or the curvature of space-time becomes infinite" (as in a black hole), is attested from 1965.

also from early 13c.
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Trends of singularity

updated on November 06, 2022

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