single out

English · Thesaurus

AI In plain words

Writing a short explanation…

Written by a house AI from the entry below, in your language. The entry itself is the source.

single out

/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈaʊ̯t/ Canada, US, UK
/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈæɔ̯t/ Australia
/ˌsəŋ.ɡəl ˈæʊ̯t/ New Zealand
/ˌsɪŋ.ɡəl ˈʌʊ̯t/ Scotland

Where it comes from

From single (“to take alone, or one by one”, intransitive archaic verb) + out. First attested in 1629.

verb singles out · singling out · singled out

idiomatic, transitive To select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently. Eddie singled out his favorite marble from the bag.
Similar: mark out, pick out

Translations

Every language

verb to select (someone or something) from a group and highlight them or treat them differently

Español	seleccionar, singularizar
Français	distinguer, singulariser
Deutsch	gesondert behandeln, aussondern, auswählen
Italiano	eccettuare
Русский	обособля́ть obosobljátʹ, обосо́бить obosóbitʹ, отбира́ть otbirátʹ, отобра́ть otobrátʹ, вычленя́ть vyčlenjátʹ, вы́членить výčlenitʹ

Talk about this word

Cite this

MLA

"single out." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/single%20out. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026.

APA

single out. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/single%20out

Chicago

"single out." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/single%20out.

BibTeX

@misc{single_out_2026,
  title = {single out},
  howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://micwyn.com/word/single%20out},
  urldate = {2026-11-06}
}