Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Making use of or written in one language only.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective knowing, or using a single language

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

uni- + -lingual

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Examples

  • Quebec wants to remain unilingual, and I can understand that.

    Canada, the Crown and Chauvinism 1978

  • This bill is quite mild in its reach and helpful in ensuring that justice be done and be seen to be done, as no lawyer would wonder if some nuance of his oral arguments had been lost by the interpreters, especially if they lost a close 5-4 vote, and that the justices could have their internal discussions in either official language, neither one nor the other becoming the superior default language; otherwise, for example, if eight justices are bilingual in oral understanding and one is unilingual, inevitably, all discussions will be held in the language of the one unilingual, which is not something any fair-minded Canadian would want.

    Progressive Bloggers Eugene Forsey Liberal 2010

  • Sampson, one of the big four in the movement, deplored the 'fetish' of bilingualism, and would not make it a reason for dispensing with efflcient unilingual, meaning English-speaking, trade union officials. 10

    Class and Colour in South Africa 1850-1950 - Chapter 12 Ray Esther 1969

  • Most Americans, unilingual, not well-travelled and with no historic sense, have no idea what is really going on in the world or what has been done supposedly in their name.

    Media Elite Fall Down Again, and Again and … « Antiwar.com Blog 2009

  • Ha, we spent 3 months with my unilingual parents and they lost it all.

    fifille - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Emmorey knew previous research has shown that bilingual people have more tip-of-the-tongue moments than unilingual people do.

    It’s on the tip of my tongue… ewillett 2010

  • Most Americans are unilingual, not well-travelled, have little or no historic sense and are (and as part of a wider society) very self-absorbed.

    Another Iraq War Propaganda Nugget Bites the Dust « Antiwar.com Blog 2009

  • Emmorey knew previous research has shown that bilingual people have more tip-of-the-tongue moments than unilingual people do.

    It’s on the tip of my tongue… ewillett 2010

  • His argument, of course, is that the SCC is an appeals court, and a disproportionate number of the appeals it hears are from Quebec courts, and a single unilingual anglo forces every other Justice to deliberate in English.

    Paul Wells 2010

  • A unilingual anglophone who takes personal offence whenever people joke about Chretien's accent.

    Well, that was fast. - Colby Cosh - Macleans.ca 2010

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