individuality

From individual +‎ -ity.

• IPA^(key): /ˌɪndɪvɪd͡ʒuˈælɪti/

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individuality (countable and uncountable, plural individualities)

1. (uncountable) The characteristics that contribute to the differentiation or distinction of someone or something from a group of otherwise comparable identity.
   • 1856, William Pare, Equitable Villages in America:

     It is affirmed, that individuality pervades universal nature; that it is positively the most fundamental and universal principle which the finite mind seems capable of discovering, and the best image of the infinite. There are no two objects in the universe which are precisely alike.

   • 1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 6, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:

     Even in an era when individuality in dress is a cult, his clothes were noticeable. He was wearing a hard hat of the low round kind favoured by hunting men, and with it a black duffle-coat lined with white.

   • 2014 December 2, David DiSalvo, “Are You Vulnerable to the Hipster Effect?”, in Psychology Today‎^[1], archived from the original on 30 August 2025:

     The researchers posit that something they call the “hipster effect” asserts itself in human populations no matter how individualistic we imagine ourselves to be, because it’s individuality itself that sparks conformity.

2. (countable)  A person.
   • 1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic:

     As persons, therefore—gigantic individualities—they wheeled into the feudal ranks and assumed feudal powers and responsibilities.

• individual

• “individuality”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• William Dwight Whitney, Benjamin E[li] Smith, editors (1911), “individuality”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., →OCLC.