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Unexpected vs Exceptional - What's the difference?

unexpected | exceptional |

As adjectives the difference between unexpected and exceptional

is that unexpected is not expected, anticipated or foreseen while exceptional is forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare.

unexpected

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Not expected, anticipated or foreseen.
  • * , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
    • , chapter=2 citation , passage=She was a fat, round little woman, richly apparelled in velvet and lace, […]; and the way she laughed, cackling like a hen, the way she talked to the waiters and the maid, […]—all these unexpected phenomena impelled one to hysterical mirth, and made one class her with such immortally ludicrous types as Ally Sloper, the Widow Twankey, or Miss Moucher.}}
  • *
    • The windmill presented unexpected difficulties.

    Synonyms

    * See

    Antonyms

    * expected

    Derived terms

    * unexpectedly * unexpectedness

    Related terms

    * unplanned * incidental * contingent * bolt from the blue * out of the blue

    exceptional

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Forming an exception; not ordinary; uncommon; rare.
    • What an exceptional flower!
  • Better than the average; superior due to rarity.
    • The quality of the beer was exceptional.
  • Corresponding to something of lower dimension under a birational correspondence.
    • an exceptional''' curve; an '''exceptional divisor

    Synonyms

    * See also * (l)

    Antonyms

    * categorical

    Derived terms

    * exceptional space * exceptionally