Unique vs Antique - What's the difference?
unique | antique |
(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
Old, used especially of furniture and household items; out of date.
* {{quote-book, year=1905, author=
, title=
, chapter=1 (label) To shop for antiques; to search for antiques.
(label) To make an object appear to be an antique in some way.
As adjectives the difference between unique and antique
is that unique is being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched while antique is old, used especially of furniture and household items; out of date.As nouns the difference between unique and antique
is that unique is a thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled while antique is an old piece of furniture, household item, or other similar item.As a verb antique is
to shop for antiques; to search for antiques.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.
antique
English
Adjective
(er)citation, passage=“There the cause of death was soon ascertained?; the victim of this daring outrage had been stabbed to death from ear to ear with a long, sharp instrument, in shape like an antique stiletto, which […] was subsequently found under the cushions of the hansom. […]”}}