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equipment or equipments

English translation: equipment (uncountable noun)

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)
English term or phrase:equipment or equipments
Selected answer:equipment (uncountable noun)
Entered by: Natalie Wilcock (X)

12:04 May 8, 2006
English language (monolingual) [PRO]
Bus/Financial - Finance (general)
English term or phrase: equipment or equipments
is the word equipment used in the plural form? does it have different meaning from that of the singular form?
Thanks
Mona Ragaei
Kuwait
Local time: 11:10
uncountable noun
Explanation:
According to the Oxford Dictionary equipment is an uncountable noun, so there is no plural (as is the case with information).
Selected response from:

Natalie Wilcock (X)
Local time: 10:10
Grading comment
thanks alot
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



SUMMARY OF ALL EXPLANATIONS PROVIDED
4 +19uncountable noun
Natalie Wilcock (X)
4 +4most often singular
Tony M


  

Answers


2 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +19
uncountable noun


Explanation:
According to the Oxford Dictionary equipment is an uncountable noun, so there is no plural (as is the case with information).

Natalie Wilcock (X)
Local time: 10:10
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish, Native in GermanGerman
PRO pts in category: 8
Grading comment
thanks alot

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Brie Vernier
0 min
  -> Thank you Brie. Regards, Natalie
agree  Emilie: Just equipment - in many dics.
1 min
  -> Thanks Emilie. Cheers, Natalie
agree  Robert Forstag: Yeppers.
2 mins
  -> Brillo. ;-))
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou: It is uncountable according to Cambridge Dictionary, too.
2 mins
  -> Thanks Vicky.
agree  Woodstock (X): Yep.
2 mins
  -> Ta, Woodstock
agree  Selin Fikirdanış: uncountable noun
3 mins
  -> Thanks Selin.
agree  Tony M
5 mins
  -> Thanks, Dusty. ;-))
agree  Alison Jenner
6 mins
  -> Thank you Alison.
agree  Isodynamia
11 mins
  -> Thanks Constantina. Regards, Natalie
agree  William [Bill] Gray
12 mins
  -> Thanks Bill.
agree  Paula Vaz-Carreiro
17 mins
  -> Thank you Paula.
agree  Dylan Edwards: 99% of the time - or more - this is true. I agreed with Tony too, just to reassure him that he wasn't seeing things. I've seen "equipments" in print, where it was obviously some quirk of military usage.
50 mins
  -> Thanks Dylan. Never seen it myself, but willing to accept that military bods use it in this way. ;-))
agree  Alfa Trans (X)
2 hrs
  -> Thanks Marju ;-)
agree  MikeGarcia
4 hrs
  -> Thank you Miguel
agree  Dave Calderhead
5 hrs
  -> Thanks Dave.
agree  conejo
5 hrs
  -> Thank you conejo. :-)
agree  Raging Dreamer
6 hrs
  -> Thank you.
agree  Can Altinbay
6 hrs
  -> Cheers Can. Regards Natalie
agree  Hebat-Allah El Ashmawy
7 hrs
  -> Thank you. Regards, Natalie
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4 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +4
most often singular


Explanation:
You'll most often find it in the singular --- it is a non-countable noun. If you want to make it countable, you need to use something like 'item of equipment' (plural: 'items of equipment')

You may very occasionally encounter it used in the plural, but it doesn't have a different meaning, so much as being used in a special sense.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 10 mins (2006-05-08 12:14:53 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Let's not forget that 'equipment' can also mean 'the act of equipping', and it is in this context that one can just occasioanlly encounter it used in the plural, though I always find it a bit dubious...

Tony M
France
Local time: 10:10
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 8

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vicky Papaprodromou
1 min
  -> Efharisto, Vicky!
neutral  CMJ_Trans (X): can you give me one example to convince me please? I cannot think of one myself
3 mins
  -> I've come across it in certain military specification-type contexts, though it wasn't entirely clear if it was a special usage, or just bad English! See note above also.
agree  Dylan Edwards: I agree "equipments" is unusual and I certainly wouldn't recommend it for general use. I've only seen it in one book - the title was "German Military Equipments" if I remeber rightly, and it was by an English-speaking author who was obviously a specialist
15 mins
  -> Thanks, Dylan! Yes, it's very rare, and often questionable... // Thanks a lot for that corroboration; according to OED, it was originally (18th c.) used ONLY in the plural, which may explain a hangover of an archaism in certain fields.
agree  Jack Doughty: I thought it must be very rare too, but I get 18,000,000 Google hits for equipments!
1 hr
  -> Thanks, Jack! That's extraordinary, though I feel sure the vast majority of those are probably errors! // It is, after all, a very common non-native mistake
agree  Raging Dreamer: Very rare indeed. Would not recommend it for general use.
5 hrs
  -> Thanks, R/D! Oh, indeed, I would never advocate using it! But some clever-clogs would have been bound to pick holes in my answer if I had failed to mention it! ;-)))
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