binary

adj
/ˈbaɪ.nə.ɹɪ/UK/ˈbaɪ.nə.ɹi/US

Etymology

From Late Latin bīnārius (“consisting of two”), from Latin bīnī (“two-by-two, pair”). By surface analysis, bin- + -ary.

  1. derived from bīnī
  2. derived from bīnārius

Definitions

  1. Being in one of two mutually exclusive states.

    • Binary states are often represented as 1 and 0 in computer science.
    • Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.
    • It's not binary. You can be decent and gifted at the same time.
  2. Concerning logic whose subject matter concerns such states.

    • Near-synonym: Boolean
  3. Concerning numbers and calculations using the binary number system.

  4. + 12 more definitions
    1. Having two equally important parts

      Having two equally important parts; related to something with two parts.

      • binary star
      • Two ingredients are combined in a binary poison.
      • A binary statistical distribution has only two categories.
    2. Of an operation, function, procedure, or logic gate, taking exactly two operands,…

      Of an operation, function, procedure, or logic gate, taking exactly two operands, arguments, parameters, or inputs; having domain of dimension 2.

      • Division of reals is a binary operation.
    3. Of data, consisting coded values (e.g. machine code) not interpretable as plain or ASCII…

      Of data, consisting coded values (e.g. machine code) not interpretable as plain or ASCII text (e.g. source code).

      • He downloaded the binary distribution for Linux, then burned it to DVD.
    4. Focusing on two mutually exclusive conditions.

      • He has a very binary understanding of gender.
      • Yo… you've been staring at a computer screen way too long, homie. Life's not that binary.
    5. Having or pertaining to a gender identity represented by the gender binary

      Having or pertaining to a gender identity represented by the gender binary; either male or female.

    6. A state in which only two values are possible, in which something must have one value or…

      A state in which only two values are possible, in which something must have one value or the other.

      • The correlation between warmth and cold is an internal one where the existence of one depends on and is defined by the other. Hence, the yin-yang binary as a correlative binary of light-shade or warmth-cold [...]
      • The “in” versus “out” of this sociological model certainly carries to the admittedly simplistic binary of “good” versus “bad” of stereotypes in fictional works and the scholarly approaches to them.
    7. The bijective base-2 numeral system, which uses only the digits 0 and 1.

      • As our initial exposure to the base 10 number system consisted of learning how to count, it also makes sense that we might begin by learning how to count in binary.
    8. Synonym of binary file.

      • Now that you have a high-level idea of what binaries look like and how they work, you're ready to dive into a real binary format.
    9. Synonym of binary asteroid.

    10. Synonym of binary planet.

    11. Synonym of binary star.

    12. Synonym of binary option.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at binary. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01binary02exclusive03organisation04australian05country06still07sparkling08dioxide09oxide

A definitional loop anchored at binary. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

9 hops · closes at binary

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA