Unified

How to spell unified

7 letters · 3 syllables

How to pronounce unified

Say the part in capitals loudest.

What does unified mean?

1. adjectiveBrought together to form a single, coordinated whole.
2. verbPast tense of unify: to have made into or joined as one.

Unified in a sentence

• adjective

  The company adopted a unified approach to customer service across all branches.

• verb

  The new manager unified the two rival teams into one division.

• adjective

  A unified database lets every department see the same records.

• verb

  A common goal unified the volunteers despite their differences.

Where does unified come from?

Language of origin: Latin

This word traces back to the Latin unus, meaning simply 'one', combined with facere, 'to make', which together gave the Late Latin verb unificare, 'to make into one'. English took this in through Old French and the verb 'unify' was established by the late 1400s, with 'unified' arising as its past tense and adjective. The same unus root underlies a whole family of everyday words such as 'union', 'unit', 'unique', and 'universe', all carrying the sense of oneness. The spelling trap comes from the -fy verb turning into -ied: just as 'apply' becomes 'applied' and 'magnify' becomes 'magnified', the final y of 'unify' changes to i before the -ed ending. Keeping that single i in mind, rather than doubling letters, is the key to getting it right.

How the word is built

• uni- (one)
• -fy (to make, from Latin facere 'to make')
• -ied (past form)