unit: Meaning and Definition of

u•nit

Pronunciation: (y'nit), [key]
— n.
  1. a single thing or person.
  2. any group of things or persons regarded as an entity: They formed a cohesive unit.
  3. one of the individuals or groups that together constitute a whole; one of the parts or elements into which a whole may be divided or analyzed.
  4. one of a number of things, organizations, etc., identical or equivalent in function or form: a rental unit; a unit of rolling stock.
  5. any magnitude regarded as an independent whole; a single, indivisible entity.
  6. Also calledany specified amount of a quantity, as of length, volume, force, momentum, or time, by comparison with which any other quantity of the same kind is measured or estimated.
  7. the least positive integer; one.
  8. Also called
    1. (in a mixed number) the position of the first digit to the left of the decimal point.
    2. (in a whole number) the position of the first digit from the right of the decimal point.
  9. a machine, part, or system of machines having a specified purpose; apparatus: a heating unit.
  10. a division of instruction centering on a single theme.
  11. an organized body of soldiers, varying in size and constituting a subdivision of a larger body.
    1. the measured amount of a substance necessary to cause a certain effect; a clinical quantity used when a substance cannot be readily isolated in pure form and its activity determined directly.
    2. the amount necessary to cause a specific effect upon a specific animal or upon animal tissues.
    1. an identity element.
    2. an element in a group, ring, etc., that possesses an inverse.

Unit.

Pronunciation: [key]
  1. Unitarian.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.
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