unipolar

adjective

uni·​po·​lar ˌyü-ni-ˈpō-lər 

1

: having or oriented in respect to a single pole: such as

a

: having or involving the use of a single magnetic or electrical pole

b

: based on or controlled by a single factor or view

China mistrusts a unipolar, U.S.-dominated world.

—Thomas A. Stewart

2

psychology : being, characteristic of, or affected by unipolar depression

unipolar depressive episodes

unipolar patients

Examples of unipolar in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

The brief, unipolar moment when the United States faced no rivals and some concluded that diplomacy no longer mattered is emphatically over. —John Mac Ghlionn, Newsweek, 14 Jan. 2025

Rather than triggering a rise of the rest, current trends are solidifying a unipolar world with the United States as the sole superpower, surrounded by declining great powers and a periphery of middle powers, developing countries, and failing states. —Michael Beckley, Foreign Affairs, 7 Jan. 2025

The unipolar moment of unrivaled American military power is over. —Jason Fields, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 2024

With the end of the Cold War and the beginning of a new era of U.S. unipolar power, however, a dangerous sense of complacency set in on both sides of the Atlantic. —Norbert Röttgen, Foreign Affairs, 22 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1806, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing unipolar

• unipolar depression
• unipolar disorder

Medical Definition

unipolar

adjective

uni·​po·​lar ˌyü-ni-ˈpō-lər 

1

: involving or being an electrode or lead attached to the surface of a bodily site (as the chest) for recording the difference in electrical potential between the site and that of another electrode or lead having zero potential

2

of a neuron : having but one process

3

: being, characteristic of, or affected by unipolar depression

unipolar depressive episodes

unipolar patients

compare bipolar