unity
/ˈjuːnɪti
/noun (plural unities) [mass noun]
1The state of being united or joined as a whole: European unity ways of preserving family unity...
- Today, though, the economic unity of the extended family has broken down.
- Germany's economic unity was to be preserved, though this was undermined by the decision that each power could take reparations from its own occupied territories.
- It is highly unlikely that they would allow any internal or external factor to trifle with their unity or a united platform to promote and preserve their interests.
Synonyms
union, unification, integration, amalgamation;
coalition, federation, confederation
1.1The state of forming a complete and harmonious whole, especially in an artistic context: the repeated phrase gives the piece unity and cohesion...
- There Schlegel turned his attention not just to the production of harmonious unity in individual works of art but also to their reception by the spectator.
- With a poetic twist on artistic unity, this film evokes the thought that we are subject to a very similar imprisonment, even in the comfort of our own culture.
- I nearly fell back as it all suddenly came together for me, the pins and pieces of a great puzzle falling into harmonious unity.
Synonyms
harmony, accord, concord, concurrence, cooperation, collaboration, agreement, unanimity, consensus, assent, concert, togetherness, solidarity, like-mindedness, peace, synthesis
1.2 [count noun] A thing forming a complex whole: they speak of the three parts as a unity...
- So does the Bible teach that the human person is a psychosomatic unity which perishes completely with death?
- Yet we don't count up two diamonds from the deuce and two from the trey, but treat each card as a complete unity.
- Naturalism could, however, conflict with the demands of the setting, as in the stained glass at Fairford church, where the stone mullions cut across compositions designed as a unity.
Synonyms
oneness, singleness, wholeness, entity, integrity, undividedness, cohesion, coherence, congruity, congruence, uniformity, homogeneity, identity, sameness
2 Mathematics The number one: the slope of each dotted line is less than unity...
- All these proofs use complex numbers and roots of unity, as does the author's.
- Selecting different values of the base value a, there turns out to be only one value of a such that the gradient of the graph is unity at x = 0.
- In fact, he even may have gained speed on rivals, thanks to specific properties of the two cube roots of unity that are complex numbers.
3 [count noun] Each of the three dramatic principles requiring limitation of the supposed time of a drama to that occupied in acting it or to a single day (unity of time), use of one scene throughout (unity of place), and concentration on the development of a single plot (unity of action).Nevertheless, the plays are far removed from the classical pattern: they rarely present a unity of action, time and place....
- The plot, observing the classical unity of time by taking place in a 24-hour period, is the barest of sketches, a pretext for the feelings of sadness, world-weariness, and desperate hope.
- Sophocles' play was for Aristotle an exemplary tragedy, both formally, in terms of unity of action, and in its tragic story.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French unite, from Latin unitas, from unus 'one'.