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Unique vs Offbeat - What's the difference?

unique | offbeat |

As adjectives the difference between unique and offbeat

is that unique is (not comparable) being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched while offbeat is unusual, unconventional, not ordinary.

As nouns the difference between unique and offbeat

is that unique is a thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled while offbeat is (music) the beats not normally accented in a measure.

unique

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (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 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—’}}
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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}}

    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 * singular

    Derived terms

    * uniqueness

    Related terms

    * unicity * one-of-a-kind * inimitable

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled.
  • * De Quincey
    • The phoenix, the unique of birds.

    External links

    * * * English autological terms English disputed terms ----

    offbeat

    English

    Alternative forms

    * off-beat, off beat

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (music) The beats not normally accented in a measure.
    • The congregation clapped along on the offbeat .
  • (slang) An unconventional person, someone who does not follow the beat, who chooses not to conform.
  • * 1977 , Lyle W Dorsett, The Queen City: a history of Denver
    • No one dignified such offbeats by responding to their outcries. Today, the "knockers of progress" have become a force that cannot be ignored.
  • * {{quote-book
    • , year=1980 , author=Eleanor C. Hein , title=Communication in nursing practice , chapter= citation , isbn=0316354538, 9780316354530 , page=16 , passage=Being an oddball, an offbeat , or a creative person, as Jourard sees the committed professional, is something all nurses should risk.}}
  • * 2001 , Andrew Yoder, Pirate Radio Stations
    • In addition to creating a web of stories that will be passed through many generations, these offbeats usually strengthen the fiber of their particular hobby...

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Unusual, unconventional, not ordinary.
    • He has such an offbeat sense of humor that hardly anyone finds his jokes amusing.

    Anagrams

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