- used to avoid repeating a noun, when you are referring to somebody/something that has already been mentioned, or that the person you are speaking to knows about
- I'd like an ice cream. Are you having one, too?
- Our car's always breaking down. But we're getting a new one soon.
- She was wearing her new dress, the red one.
- Steve's the one with the blue jacket.
- My favourite band? Oh, that's a hard one (= a hard question).
- What made you choose the one rather than the other?
- (British English) How about those ones over there?
Homophones one | wonone won/wʌn//wʌn/- one number
- There can only be one winner.
- one pronoun
- Which do you prefer? The flowery one or the stripy one?
- won verb (past tense, past participle of win)
- He's just won his 19th singles title.
Grammar Point one / onesone / onesOne/ones is used to avoid repeating a countable noun, but there are some times when you should not use it, especially in formal speech or writing:- After a possessive (my, your, Mary’s, etc.), some, any, both or a number, unless it is used with an adjective:
- ‘Did you get any postcards?’ ‘Yes, I bought four nice ones.’
- I bought four ones.
- It can be left out after superlatives, this, that, these, those, either, neither, another, which, etc:
- ‘Here are the designs. Which (one) do you prefer?’ ‘I think that (one) looks the most original.’
- These ones and those ones are not used in North American English, and are unusual in British English:
- Do you prefer these designs or those?
- It is never used to replace uncountable nouns and is unusual with abstract countable nouns:
- The Scottish legal system is not the same as the English system
- …as the English one.
- used when you are identifying the person or thing you are talking about
- Our house is the one next to the school.
- The students who are most successful are usually the ones who come to all the classes.
- one of a person or thing belonging to a particular group
- It's a present for one of my children.
- We think of you as one of the family.
- a person of the type mentioned
- 10 o’clock is too late for the little ones.
- He ached to be home with his loved ones.
- one to do something She was never one to criticize.
- (formal) used to mean ‘people in general’ or ‘I’, when the speaker is referring to himself or herself
- One should never criticize if one is not sure of one's facts.
- One gets the impression that they disapprove.
- a one(old-fashioned, especially British English) a person whose behaviour is funny or surprising
- Oh, you are a one!
- the one about something the joke
- Have you heard the one about the Englishman, the Irishman and the Scotsman?
Word OriginOld English ān, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch een and German ein, from an Indo-European root shared by Latin unus. The initial w sound developed before the 15th cent. and was occasionally represented in the spelling; it was not accepted into standard English until the late 17th cent.
Idioms
See one in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee one in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbe (a) one for (doing) something
- to be a person who enjoys something, or who does something often or well
- I've never been a great one for fish and chips.
Check pronunciation:
one