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Unique vs Partial - What's the difference?

unique | partial |

As adjectives the difference between unique and partial

is that unique is being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched while partial is existing as a part or portion; incomplete.

As nouns the difference between unique and partial

is that unique is a thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled while partial is a partial derivative: a derivative with respect to one independent variable of a function in multiple variables.

unique

English

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • (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 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—’}}
  • *
  • *
  • 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

    Noun

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

    partial

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Existing as a part or portion; incomplete.
  • So far, I have only pieced together a partial account of the incident.
  • (computer science) Describing a property that holds only when an algorithm terminates.
  • It's easy to prove partial correctness, but it's not obvious that it is also totally correct.
  • Biased in favor of a person, side, or point of view, especially when dealing with a competition or dispute.
  • The referee is blatantly partial !
  • * Alexander Pope
  • a partial parent
  • Having a predilection for something.
  • * Sir Walter Scott
  • not partial to an ostentatious display

    Antonyms

    * (biased) impartial

    Derived terms

    * impartial * impartiality * impartially * partiality * partially * partial to

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (mathematics) A partial derivative: a derivative with respect to one independent variable of a function in multiple variables.
  • (music) An overtone or harmonic.
  • (dentistry) dentures that replace only some of the natural teeth
  • Anagrams

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