Definition

1. Adjective:
   • Consisting of or involving a single element or component: Used primarily in mathematics, logic, and computing to describe an operation, function, or system that uses or affects only one operand or input.

Usage Examples

• Adjective:
  • In programming, the increment operator (++) is a classic example of a unary operator.
  • Negation is a unary operation that produces the opposite of a given truth value.
  • The mathematical system defines a unary function that maps a single element to another element within the same set.

Advanced Usage

• "unary operation": An operation with only one operand.
  • Logical NOT is a fundamental unary operation in Boolean algebra.
• "unary numeral system": A numeral system for representing natural numbers using a single symbol.
  • Tally marks form a simple unary numeral system.

Variants and Related Words

• Unary is the standard adjectival form. It does not have common noun or verb variants.
• Monadic (adj): A near-synonym, especially in philosophy and functional programming, meaning "consisting of a single unit."

Synonyms

• Single-operand: (Descriptive phrase) Involving one operand.
• Monadic: Of or relating to a single unit, often used interchangeably in technical contexts.

Antonyms

• Binary: Involving two elements or components.
• N-ary or Polyadic: Involving multiple (n) elements or components.

Related Phrases

• Unary minus: The operation that reverses the sign of a number (e.g., -5).
  • The unary minus is applied before any other arithmetic operators in the expression.
• Unary coding: A form of entropy encoding where a number is represented by that many ones followed by a zero.
  • Unary coding is a simple but inefficient method for data compression.

Adjective

1. consisting of or involving a single element or component
   • in a unary operation in a mathematical system one element is used to yield a single result