Unit
['juːnɪt] or ['junɪt]
Definition
(noun.) a single undivided whole; 'an idea is not a unit that can be moved from one brain to another'.
(noun.) an organization regarded as part of a larger social group; 'the coach said the offensive unit did a good job'; 'after the battle the soldier had trouble rejoining his unit'.
(noun.) a single undivided natural thing occurring in the composition of something else; 'units of nucleic acids'.
(noun.) an individual or group or structure or other entity regarded as a structural or functional constituent of a whole; 'the reduced the number of units and installations'; 'the word is a basic linguistic unit'.
Editor: Sharon--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A single thing or person.
(n.) The least whole number; one.
(n.) A gold coin of the reign of James I., of the value of twenty shillings.
(n.) Any determinate amount or quantity (as of length, time, heat, value) adopted as a standard of measurement for other amounts or quantities of the same kind.
(n.) A single thing, as a magnitude or number, regarded as an undivided whole.
Edited by Blair
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. One.
Edited by Ethelred
Synonyms and Antonyms
SYN:Ace, item, part, individual
ANT:Total, aggregate, collection, sum, mass
Checked by Leda
Definition
n. one: a single thing or person: the least whole number: anything taken as one: any known determinate quantity by constant application of which any other quantity is measured.—adj. U′nital.—n. Unitā′rian one who asserts the unity of the Godhead as opposed to the Trinity and ascribes divinity to God the Father only.—adj. pertaining to Unitarians or their doctrine.—n. Unitā′rianism the doctrines or principles of a Unitarian.—adj. U′nitary pertaining to unity or to a unit: (biol.) monistic as opposed to dualistic: whole integral.—n. U′nitāte the remainder after dividing a number by any digit.—v.t. to obtain the unitate of.—n. Unitā′tion.
Checked by Laurie
Examples
- The atom, to be sure, can no longer be consider ed the smallest unit of matter, as the mass of a β particle is approximately one seventeen-hundredths that of an atom of hydrogen. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- It is proposed to work as a unit plant for successful operation at least six sets of molds, to keep the men busy and the machinery going. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Even the lightest engines made at that time were very heavy per unit of power, and rather crude in construction. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- For by the same rule these twenty men may be considered as a unit. David Hume. A Treatise of Human Nature.
- They can't find their unit so I gave them a ride. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- The rate at which a machine is able to accomplish a unit of work is called _power_, and the unit of power customarily used is the horse power. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- They were acting as a unit so far as such a thing was possible over such a vast field. Ulysses S. Grant. Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant.
- The machines of a class, or type, are not all located in a single group or unit. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- By this system each assembler, or operator, performs one operation only, and repeats this operation on every unit passing through the department. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- In practice, however, no such perfect conditions can obtain, hence the necessity of the provision for balancing in order to maintain the principle of independent control of each unit. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Second--To devise an electric lamp that would give about the same amount of light as a gas jet, which custom had proven to be a suitable and useful unit. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- The sequel showed the value of Edison's cautious method in starting the station by operating only a single unit at first. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Like myself, you are born to be a ruler, not a unit in English civilization. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The result is that the three negatives, instead of each being a true unit, ready for combination with the others, is really only a basis for further work. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Since resistance plays so important a r?le in electricity, it becomes necessary to have a unit of resistance. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- But, she had scarcely thought more of separating them into units, than of separating the sea itself into its component drops. Charles Dickens. Hard Times.
- A more scientific statement, however, is that the cold vapor absorbs the heat units of the water, and taking them away with it, lowers the temperature of the water to the freezing point. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- But it is desirable at times to measure a current in units. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- There were some Italians with one of our units. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- Some of the early races learned to designate units from tens and tens from hundreds by working their fingers in various ways. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- The energy of the sun can be measured in heat units. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- It was of such rich character that, being cheaply mined by greatly improved and inexpensive methods, the market price of crude ore of like iron units fell from about $6. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- Absence of fire risk accounts for the introduction of electric heating units of different kinds into the motion-picture film manufacturing industry, a rapidly growing province. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- Instruments for measuring the strength of currents in units are called ammeters, and the common form makes use of a galvanometer. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
- Our history has traced a steady growth of the social and political units into which men have combined. H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- The result is that the heat units carried off by the water flowing around coil _d_ are the same heat units abstracted from the water in tank _a_, which water is thus reduced to congealation. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Some American ambulance units were to be sent down and this hospital would look after them and any other Americans on service in Italy. Ernest Hemingway. A Farewell To Arms.
- In this division, all the assembled units meet the assembly conveyor at the point where they are needed. Various. The Wonder Book of Knowledge.
- It is quite obvious that such a system would be commercially impracticable where small units, similar to gas jets, were employed. Frank Lewis Dyer. Edison, His Life and Inventions.
- This re quired the intervention of specialists, expert rope-fasteners, who laid off a triangle by means of a rope divided into three parts, of three, four, and five units. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
Editor: Lois