unity

English Online Dictionary. What means unity‎? What does unity mean?

English

Etymology

From Middle English unite, from Anglo-Norman, Old French unité, from Latin ūnitās, from ūnus (“one”) + noun of state suffix -itās, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *óynos (“one, single”), hence distantly related to one and an. Displaced native Old English ānnes (literally “oneness”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈjuːnɪti/, /ˈjuːnəti/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈjunɪti/, /ˈjunəti/

Noun

unity (countable and uncountable, plural unities)

1. (uncountable) Oneness; the state or fact of being one undivided entity.
2. Agreement; harmony.
3. A single undivided thing, seen as complete in itself.
4. (drama) Any of the three classical rules of drama: unity of action (nothing should be admitted not directly relevant to the development of the plot), unity of place (the scenes should be set in the same place), and unity of time (all the events should be such as might happen within a single day).
6. (mathematics) The number 1 or any element of a set or field that behaves under a given operation as the number 1 behaves under multiplication.

   the cube roots of unity

7. (law) The peculiar characteristics of an estate held by several in joint tenancy.
8. (Quakerism) The form of consensus in a Quaker meeting for business which signals that a decision has been reached. In order to achieve unity, everyone who does not agree with the decision must explicitly stand aside, possibly being recorded in the minutes as doing so.

Synonyms

• (oneness): See also Thesaurus:oneness

Antonyms

• (antonym(s) of “oneness”): plurality, multiplicity, disunity; see also Thesaurus:manyness

Derived terms

Related terms

• unique
• unus

Translations

See also

• (mathematics): identity element