Outstanding vs Unique - What's the difference?
outstanding | unique | Related terms |
prominent or noticeable; standing out from others
exceptionally good; distinguished from others by its superiority
*
* {{quote-news
, year=2011
, date=October 29
, author=Phil McNulty
, title=Chelsea 3 - 5 Arsenal
, work=BBC Sport
projecting outwards
*
unresolved; not settled or finished
owed as a debt
*
(not comparable) Being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.
*
*
* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=3 *
*
Of a feature, such that only one holder has it.
Particular, characteristic.
* '>citation
(proscribed) Of a rare quality, unusual.
* {{quote-book, passage=And as I look back, it seems to me that we were fairly unique , the sixty of us, in that there wasn’t one good mixer in the bunch.
, title=For Esmé—With Love and Squalor
, author=J.D. Salinger
, year=1950}}
A thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled.
* De Quincey
As adjectives the difference between outstanding and unique
is that outstanding is prominent or noticeable; standing out from others while unique is being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.As a noun unique is
a thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled.outstanding
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, page= , passage=The Gunners captain demonstrated his importance to the team by taking his tally to an outstanding 28 goals in 27 Premier League games as Chelsea slumped again after their shock defeat at QPR last week.}}
Derived terms
* outstandinglyAnagrams
*unique
English
Adjective
(en adjective)citation, passage=‘[…] There's every Staffordshire crime-piece ever made in this cabinet, and that's unique . The Van Hoyer Museum in New York hasn't that very rare second version of Maria Marten's Red Barn over there, nor the little Frederick George Manning—he was the criminal Dickens saw hanged on the roof of the gaol in Horsemonger Lane, by the way—’}}
Usage notes
The comparative and superlative forms more unique'' and ''most unique'', as well as the use of ''unique'' with modifiers as in ''fairly unique'' and ''very unique , are sometimes proscribed, with the reasoning that either something is unique or it is not.Synonyms
(checksyns) * one of a kind * sui generis * singularDerived terms
* uniquenessNoun
(en noun)- The phoenix, the unique of birds.
