one-way

See also: oneway

English

Etymology

From one +‎ way. First attested in 1906 in reference to one-way tickets; 1914 in reference to one-way streets; 1940 in reference to one-way mirrors.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /wʌn.weɪ/, enPR: wŭnʹwāʹ
• The stress can fall on either syllable, or on each syllable equally, with no distinction in meaning.

Adjective

one-way (not comparable)

1. Allowing movement, vision, etc. in only one direction; unidirectional.

   Antonyms: two-way, bidirectional

   one-way mirror

   The town centre is now a system of one-way streets.

   • 2017, Di Zou, James Lambert, “Feedback methods for student voice in the digital age”, in British Journal of Educational Technology, volume 48, number 5, page 1087:

     Traditional feedback collection through pen-and-paper questionnaires and oral reports usually only supplies one-way feedback, from student to teacher.

2. Allowing travel in only one direction.

   Antonym: return

   I bought a one-way ticket to Leeds.

3. (computer science) Of a function: easy to compute for every input, but hard to invert given the image of a random input.

Derived terms

• one-way mirror
• one-way street
• one-way ticket

Translations

allowing movement in only one direction

• Albanian: njëdrejtimësh (sq)
• Bulgarian: еднопосочен (ednoposočen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 單向／单向 (zh) (dānxiàng)

• Czech: jednosměrný (cs)
• Finnish: yksisuuntainen (fi)
• French: à sens unique (fr)
• German: Einweg-, Einbahn-
• Greek: μονόδρομος (el) m (monódromos)
• Hungarian: egyirányú (hu)
• Irish: aontreo
• Italian: senso unico m
• Japanese: 一方通行 (ja) (ippō tsūkō)
• Korean: 일방통행 (ko) (ilbangtonghaeng)
• Latin: irredux
• Macedonian: еднонасочен m (ednonasočen)
• Maori: ahutahi
• Polish: jednokierunkowy (pl), jednostronny (pl)
• Portuguese: de mão única
• Russian: односторо́нний (ru) (odnostorónnij)
• Swedish: enkelriktad (sv)

allowing travel in only one direction

• Bulgarian: еднопосочен (ednoposočen)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 單程／单程 (zh) (dānchéng)

• Finnish: yksisuuntainen (fi)
• French: aller simple (fr)
• German: einfach (de)
• Greek: χωρίς επιστροφή (chorís epistrofí)
• Hungarian: egyirányú (hu)
• Japanese: 片道 (かたみち, katamichi)
• Korean: 편도 (ko) (pyeondo)
• Macedonian: еднонасочен m (ednonasočen)
• Maori: ahutahi
• Polish: jednostronny (pl)
• Portuguese: sem retorno
• Russian: в оди́н коне́ц (v odín konéc), в одну́ сто́рону (v odnú stóronu)
• Swedish: enkel (sv), enkel-

Verb

one-way (third-person singular simple present one-ways, present participle one-waying, simple past and past participle one-wayed)

1. (agriculture) To use a disc harrow to turn the soil and kill weeds, in preparation for planting seeds.
   • 1935, Report of the Chief of the Soil Conservation Service, page 58:

     Over a period of 10 years, the average yield under stubble-mulch tillage has been 10 percent greater than under one-waying with continuous wheat, and 14 percent greater than under one-waying with wheat on fallow.