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What do you call the state of being single, without a significant other?

  • Singlehood?
  • Singleness?
  • Singledom?
  • Solity?

I don't like the single+suffix varieties.

Notes:

  1. I want something equality applicable to both men and women, and LGBTQWhatever, so no 'bachelor'-based stuff.
  2. I do not want imply that the norm is to be married, or that people should get married (or should stay un-married).
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general reference - a question for a thesaurus – EnergyNumbers Mar 20 at 8:17
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Changing your criteria after every answer is counter-productive. -1 and voting to close as NARQ. – coleopterist Mar 20 at 12:45
being single is being unmarried, so you have answered your own question I think – Łukasz Lech Mar 20 at 12:54
I am interested to know what you would call the "state of being married". – tylerharms Mar 20 at 13:10
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Given the state of my love life, one might say I have singularity. – Matt Эллен Mar 20 at 13:19
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closed as not a real question by coleopterist, Matt Эллен, Kate Gregory, tylerharms, Mitch Mar 20 at 13:34

It's difficult to tell what is being asked here. This question is ambiguous, vague, incomplete, overly broad, or rhetorical and cannot be reasonably answered in its current form. For help clarifying this question so that it can be reopened, see the FAQ.

5 Answers

up vote 2 down vote

And it's spinster for a woman. Another more casual word used lately is singleton.

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So, what would be the noun form? Singlety? Singletone-ness? – einpoklum Mar 20 at 8:51
up vote 2 down vote

If someone has a partner, then they’re taken. I suppose then that someone without a partner would then be not taken or available. That does assume that they’re in the partnership market, though.

One might also consider solitaire as a noun, meaning a solitary person, one who lives life alone.

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'available' is not specific enough. You could be available for hire, for example. Also, I might be with a partner and available at the same time. (PS I don't like the market metaphor, but that's not relevant to your answer...) – einpoklum Mar 20 at 12:25
up vote 1 down vote
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up vote 1 down vote

A couple of promising gender-neutral candidates are:

  • Unweddedness:

    From The Manly Art: bare-knuckle prize fighting in America by Elliott J. Gorn (2012):

    In some large cities unweddedness was so common that at mid-century, 40 percent of the men between twenty-five and thirty-five years of age were single. Irish immigrants contributed to this tendency, bringing a tradition of late marriage and ...

  • Spouselessness:

    From The Economist, Volume 382 (2007):

    Single gay diplomats are no longer disadvantaged by spouselessness. But those wanting to take their legally recognised partners with them face a lottery. The Netherlands gives same-sex partners full diplomatic privileges. America ...

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'Unweddendness' implies the normal/general state of an individual is in wedlock... which, historically, may have been the case, but it's not like that for my demographic and where I live. 'Spouselessness' is better, but it's an unwieldy tongue-twister... – einpoklum Mar 20 at 12:06
up vote 1 down vote

Celibacy, in one of its senses, is defined as the state of being unmarried or single.

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etymology please? – einpoklum Mar 20 at 12:05
@einpoklum From latin celebs which comes from a (supposed) greek term koi-leipes which means lacking of marriage bed. – Bakuriu Mar 20 at 13:04
I'm beginning to like your option, even though it means we have to educate people around the world to rethink the semantic relative to what they're used to... – einpoklum Mar 20 at 13:21

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