Definition of "unitary" in Englisch

adjective

1. Having the quality of oneness.

2. (government, of a system of government or administration) That concentrates power in a single body, rather than sharing it with more local bodies.

   • a unitary authority
   • a unitary state

3. (mathematics, of an algebra) That contains an identity element.

4. (mathematics, linear algebra, mathematical analysis, of a matrix or operator) Whose inverse is equal to its adjoint.

noun

1. (UK) A unitary council.

2. (mathematics) A unitary matrix or operator.

   • 1980, Michael Reed, Barry Simon, Methods of Modern Mathematical Physics, Volume 1: Functional Analysis, Revised and Expanded Edition page 243, Since ergodicity and mixing are expressible in terms of the induced Koopman unitaries they are not additional invariants.