Unique vs Exclusive - What's the difference?
unique | exclusive |
(not comparable) Being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.
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* {{quote-book, year=1963, author=(Margery Allingham)
, title=(The China Governess)
, chapter=3 *
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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
(literally) Excluding items or members that do not meet certain conditions.
(figuratively) Referring to a membership organisation, service or product: of high quality and/or reknown, for superior members only. A snobbish usage, suggesting that members who do not meet requirements, which may be financial, of celebrity, religion, skin colour etc., are excluded.
exclusionary
whole, undivided, entire
Information (or an artefact) that is granted or obtained exclusively.
(grammar) A word or phrase that restricts something, such as only'', ''solely'', or ''simply .
As adjectives the difference between unique and exclusive
is that unique is being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched while exclusive is excluding items or members that do not meet certain conditions.As nouns the difference between unique and exclusive
is that unique is a thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled while exclusive is information (or an artefact) that is granted or obtained exclusively.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.
exclusive
English
Adjective
(en adjective)- Exclusive''' clubs tend to serve ' exclusive brands of food and drinks, in the same exorbitant price range, such as the 'finest' French châteaux.
- ''The teacher's pet commands the teacher's exclusive attention.
Antonyms
* inclusive * non-exclusiveDerived terms
* exclusively * exclusiveness * exclusive or * exclusive right * exclusivity * mutually exclusiveNoun
(en noun)- ''The editor agreed to keep a lid on a potentially distastrous political scoop in exchange for an exclusive of a happier nature