binary

adj

1. Being in one of two mutually exclusive states.

   “Binary states are often represented as 1 and 0 in computer science.”

   “Of all the transitions brought about on the Earth’s surface by temperature change, the melting of ice into water is the starkest. It is binary. And for the land beneath, the air above and the life around, it changes everything.”

   “It's not binary. You can be decent and gifted at the same time.”

2. Concerning logic whose subject matter concerns such states.

   “Near-synonym: Boolean”

3. Concerning numbers and calculations using the binary number system.
4. Having two equally important parts; related to something with two parts.

   “binary star”

   “Two ingredients are combined in a binary poison.”

   “A binary statistical distribution has only two categories.”

5. Of an operation, function, procedure, or logic gate, taking exactly two operands, arguments, parameters, or inputs; having domain of dimension 2.

   “Division of reals is a binary operation.”

6. Of data, consisting coded values (e.g. machine code) not interpretable as plain or ASCII text (e.g. source code).

   “He downloaded the binary distribution for Linux, then burned it to DVD.”

7. (comparable)Focusing on two mutually exclusive conditions.

   “He has a very binary understanding of gender.”

   “Yo… you've been staring at a computer screen way too long, homie. Life's not that binary.”

8. Having or pertaining to a gender identity represented by the gender binary; either male or female.

   “To further unpack trans and gender-diverse embodiment, requires one to unpack the depth of the discourse as it relates to both binary and non-binary people (Hofman, 2012). It necessitates deeper engagement as to the politics of passing, not passing, societal assimilation and non-assimilation.”

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A state in which only two values are possible, in which something must have one value or the other.

   “The correlation between warmth and cold is an internal one where the existence of one depends on and is defined by the other. Hence, the yin-yang binary as a correlative binary of light-shade or warmth-cold [...]”

   “The “in” versus “out” of this sociological model certainly carries to the admittedly simplistic binary of “good” versus “bad” of stereotypes in fictional works and the scholarly approaches to them.”

2. (uncountable)The bijective base-2 numeral system, which uses only the digits 0 and 1.

   “As our initial exposure to the base 10 number system consisted of learning how to count, it also makes sense that we might begin by learning how to count in binary.”

3. (countable, uncountable)Synonym of binary file.

   “Now that you have a high-level idea of what binaries look like and how they work, you're ready to dive into a real binary format.”

4. (countable, uncountable)Synonym of binary asteroid.
5. (countable, uncountable)Synonym of binary planet.
6. (countable, uncountable)Synonym of binary star.

   “As discussed in Section 5.1, the study of the properties of planets in binaries and the search for differences between the characteristics of these objects and those of planets orbiting single stars, is crucial to the understanding of the role of binarity in planet formation and evolution.”

7. (countable, uncountable)Synonym of binary option.