NUMBER ONE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does number one mean? 

• NUMBER ONE (noun)
  The noun NUMBER ONE has 3 senses:

1. a reference to yourself or myself etc.; 'take care of number one' means to put your own interests first

2. the first or highest in an ordering or series

3. the first element in a countable series

  Familiarity information: NUMBER ONE used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NUMBER ONE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A reference to yourself or myself etc.; 'take care of number one' means to put your own interests first

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("number one" is a kind of...):

self (a person considered as a unique individual)

Domain usage:

colloquialism (a colloquial expression; characteristic of spoken or written communication that seeks to imitate informal speech)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The first or highest in an ordering or series

Classified under:

Nouns denoting relations between people or things or ideas

Synonyms:

first; number one

Context example:

He wanted to be the first

Hypernyms ("number one" is a kind of...):

rank (relative status)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "number one"):

former (the first of two or the first mentioned of two)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The first element in a countable series

Classified under:

Nouns denoting quantities and units of measure

Synonyms:

first; number 1; number one

Context example:

the first of the month

Hypernyms ("number one" is a kind of...):

no.; ordinal; ordinal number (the number designating place in an ordered sequence)

 Context examples 

They've just knocked around over the world, lookin' out for number one.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) study on dietary risks finds that in southern sub-Saharan Africa, diets low in fruits were the number one reason for diet-related deaths.

(Poor Diet Kills More People Than Smoking, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

But heart disease is the number one killer in the U.S. It is also a major cause of disability.

(Heart Diseases, NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

If you have had difficulties with conception, you are not alone, as this is my number one question from readers—can I have a baby?

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

“Check number one,” said Holmes, looking gloomily over the rolling expanse of the moor.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“That's for number one,” cried the accused, wiping the sweat from his brow, for he had been talking with a vehemence that shook the house.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

Sepsis is the number one cause of death in all hospital Intensive Care Units (ICUs) world-wide.

(New study sheds fresh light on the genetic mechanisms involved in sepsis, the leading cause of death in ICUs, University of Granada)

You may be a number one, tip-top minin' expert, all right all right, the dog-musher delivered himself oracularly, but you missed the chance of your life when you was a boy an' didn't run off an' join a circus.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Fib number one.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I will say this—the number one question my readers write to me about concerns difficulty in conception, so don’t wait too long.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)