# unit

Pronunciation: say "YOO-nit" /ˈjuː.nɪt/

## Noun

1. An organized group made up of people, equipment, or both, working together as a single body.
   - Simple: A group of people or equipment organized to work together.
   - _The hospital set up a special unit to treat burn victims._
   - _Several units combined their efforts to clean up the chemical spill._
2. Any machine or item of equipment, from household appliances and power tools to stereo systems, computers, and tractors.
   - Simple: A single machine or piece of equipment, such as an appliance or computer.
   - _The technician replaced the faulty cooling unit on the roof._
   - _Several units in the server room overheated last night._
3. A self-contained home for one household, such as an apartment within a multi-story building or a dwelling in a complex of homes. *(Australia, New Zealand, US)*
   - Simple: A single home for one household, like an apartment in a larger building.
   - _The new complex offers forty units, each with its own balcony._
   - _She bought a one-bedroom unit on the third floor._
4. A standard quantity used to measure, count, or issue something, allowing amounts to be consistently expressed and compared.
   - Simple: A standard amount used to measure, count, or give out something.
   - _Every measurement must state its unit, or the number means nothing._
   - _The international system defines base units such as the meter and the kilogram._
5. A group of military personnel with its own equipment and command, organized as a distinct part of a larger armed force, such as a reserve formation or a subdivision of a task force.
   - Simple: A group of soldiers with its own leaders and equipment that works as one part of a larger military force.
   - _The commander ordered the unit to hold its position overnight._
   - _Several units were combined to form a single task force._
6. A single item that can be sold by itself rather than only as part of a set or package.
   - Simple: A single item that can be sold on its own.
   - _Sales rose after the company cut the price of each unit._
   - _The warehouse stores thousands of units ready for shipping._
10. One kilowatt-hour of electricity, as recorded on a household electricity meter. *(UK)*
   - Simple: One kilowatt-hour of electricity, as shown on a power meter.
   - _The energy supplier charges a set price per unit of electricity._
   - _Running the heater all winter added hundreds of units to the bill._
11. A standard measure of the amount of pure alcohol contained in a drink, used to track consumption. *(UK)*
   - Simple: A standard amount of alcohol used to measure how much someone drinks.
   - _A single shot of spirits is roughly one unit._
   - _Doctors advise spreading your units across several days rather than one._
12. A freestanding or wall-mounted structure fitted with shelves, pegs, or hooks, used to display goods for sale.
   - Simple: A stand with shelves, pegs, or hooks used to show items for sale in a store.
   - _The store arranged its seasonal stock across three display units near the entrance._
   - _A new unit by the checkout held the impulse-buy items._
13. A physically large, often heavily built or muscular person. *(slang, Australia, UK)*
   - Simple: A very big, strong-looking person.
   - _The bouncer was an absolute unit, filling the whole doorway._
   - _Their prop forward is a complete unit who shrugs off tackles._
14. The number one, regarded as a single whole quantity and the basic value from which whole numbers are counted or built. It also means the ones place in a written number.
   - Simple: The number one, thought of as the single amount you count with. Also the 'ones' place in a number.
   - _In the rightmost column, the digit shows how many units there are._
   - _Adding one more unit turns nine into ten._
15. The standard quantity of blood taken in one donation, typically about 450 to 500 milliliters, or a prepared amount of a blood component.
   - Simple: About half a liter of blood, the amount given in one donation.
   - _Surgeons transfused three units during the lengthy operation._
   - _One unit of blood is collected at a typical donation._
16. Short for international unit: a measure of how strongly a vitamin, hormone, or medicine acts in the body. — Ellipsis of international unit.
   - Simple: Short for international unit. Used to measure doses of vitamins, hormones, and some medicines.
   - _The label listed 1,000 units of vitamin A per capsule._
   - _A single unit of this hormone triggers a measurable response._
17. An individual member of a military organization. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: A single member of a military group.
   - _In the strategy game, every unit has its own health bar, so you can see which soldiers are about to fall._
   - _I lost my strongest unit, a knight on horseback, when I sent him across the bridge without any support._
18. The penis, used especially of one that is large. *(slang, US)*
   - Simple: A man's penis, especially a big one.
   - _The locker-room jokes were all about whose unit was biggest._
   - _He winked and made a coarse remark about his unit._
9. One of the parts into which a course or textbook is divided, each covering a single topic.
   - Simple: One part of a school course or schoolbook that is about one subject.
   - _The first unit of the course covers the basics of cell biology._
   - _Students who finish the poetry unit early can start reading ahead in the drama units._

## Adjective

7. Calculated or charged for each individual item or measure.
   - Simple: Counted or charged for each single item.
   - _Shoppers check the unit price to find the better deal._
   - _The contract sets a fixed unit rate for every ton delivered._
8. Having a size or magnitude of exactly one.
   - Simple: Having a size of exactly one.
   - _A unit vector has a magnitude of exactly one._
   - _Mathematicians often work with the unit circle, whose radius equals one._

## Other meanings

- (noun) A volume of rock or ice of identifiable origin and age range, defined by the distinctive, easily mapped features that characterize it.
- (noun) The element of a set that, when combined with any other element under a given operation, leaves that element unchanged; the identity element.
- (noun) An invertible element of a ring: one that has a multiplicative inverse within the structure; an associate of the unity.
- (noun) In an adjunction, a natural transformation from the identity functor on the left adjoint's domain to the composite of the right adjoint with the left adjoint.
- (noun) A gold coin minted during the reign of James I, valued at twenty shillings.

## Origin

Originally spelled "unite," a later form of "unity"; see unity.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/unit (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).