Individual vs. Entity

By Jaxson

Main Difference

The main difference between Individual and Entity is that the Individual is a person or a specific object and Entity is a something that exists in the identified universe.

  • Individual

    An individual is that which exists as a distinct entity. Individuality (or self-hood) is the state or quality of being an individual; particularly of being a person separate from other people and possessing their own needs or goals, rights and responsibilities. The exact definition of an individual is important in the fields of biology, law, and philosophy.

    From the 15th century and earlier (and also today within the fields of statistics and metaphysics) individual meant “indivisible”, typically describing any numerically singular thing, but sometimes meaning “a person”. From the 17th century on, individual indicates separateness, as in individualism.Although individuality and individualism are commonly considered to mature with age/time and experience/wealth, a sane adult human being is usually considered by the state as an “individual person” in law, even if the person denies individual culpability (“I followed instructions”). An individual person is accountable for their actions/decisions/instructions, subject to prosecution in both national and international law, from the time that they have reached age of majority, often though not always more or less coinciding with the granting of voting rights, tax and military duties/ individual right to bear arms (protected only under certain constitutions). In line with hierarchy, ultimate individual human reward for success and responsibility for failure is nonetheless found at the top of human society

  • Entity

    An entity is anything that claims independent existence (as opposed to merely being part of a whole), whether as a subject or as an object, actually or potentially, concretely or abstractly.

    The term is broad in scope and may refer to animals; natural features like mountains; inanimate objects like tables; abstractions like numbers or sets; human contrivances like laws, corporations and academic disciplines; or supernatural beings like Gods and spirits.

    The adjectival form is entitative and refers to something considered in its own right.

Wikipedia
  • Individual (noun)

    A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.

    “He is an unusual individual.”

  • Individual (noun)

    A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.

  • Individual (noun)

    An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.

  • Individual (noun)

    An element belonging to a population.

  • Individual (adjective)

    Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.

    “As we can’t print them all together, the individual pages will have to be printed one by one.”

  • Individual (adjective)

    Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.

    “individual personal pension; individual cream cakes”

  • Individual (adjective)

    Not divisible without losing its identity.

  • Entity (noun)

    That which has a distinct existence as an individual unit. Often used for organisations which have no physical form.

  • Entity (noun)

    The existence of something considered apart from its properties.

  • Entity (noun)

    Anything about which information or data can be stored in a database; in particular, an organised array or set of individual elements or parts.

  • Entity (noun)

    The state or quality of being or existence.

    “The group successfully maintains its tribal entity.”

Wiktionary
  • Individual (adjective)

    single; separate

    “individual tiny flowers”

  • Individual (adjective)

    of or for a particular person

    “the individual needs of the children”

  • Individual (adjective)

    designed for use by one person

    “a casserole served in individual portions”

  • Individual (adjective)

    characteristic of a particular person or thing

    “she was surprised at how individual the others’ bodies were”

  • Individual (adjective)

    having a striking or unusual character; original

    “she creates her own, highly individual landscapes”

  • Individual (noun)

    a single human being as distinct from a group

    “boat trips for parties and individuals”

  • Individual (noun)

    a single member of a class

    “they live in a group or as individuals, depending on the species”

  • Individual (noun)

    a person of a specified kind

    “the most selfish, egotistical individual I have ever met”

  • Individual (noun)

    a distinctive or original person.

  • Entity (noun)

    a thing with distinct and independent existence

    “Church and empire were fused in a single entity”

  • Entity (noun)

    existence; being

    “entity and nonentity”

Oxford Dictionary

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