unique

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[edit] English

[edit] Etymology

From French unique.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adjective

unique (comparable only in disputed usage)

  1. Being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.
    • 1978, Jimmy Carter, Proclamation 4611:
      Admiralty Island contains unique resources of scientific interest which need protection to assure continued opportunities for study.
    • 2002, The American Practical Navigator:
      GPS assigns a unique C/A code and a unique P code to each satellite.
    • 1941, Allen v. Walt Disney:
      3. Both were written and published with the same unique chorus structure;

      4. Both compositions were written and published with the same unique harmonic structure;

    • 1920, Robert W. Lawson, Relativity: The Special and General Theory, translation of original by Albert Einstein:
      Perhaps the reader will wonder why we have placed our " beings " on a sphere rather than on another closed surface. But this choice has its justification in the fact that, of all closed surfaces, the sphere is unique in possessing the property that all points on it are equivalent.
  2. Of a feature, such that only one holder has it.
  3. (disputed) Of a rare quality.
  4. (disputed) Unusual.

[edit] Usage notes

  • Unique in its undisputed sense is not comparable. In its disputed senses, however, it can be compared as more unique, most unique, and occasionally as uniquer, uniquest.

[edit] Synonyms

[edit] Derived terms

[edit] Related terms

[edit] Translations

one of a kind

[edit] External links

[edit] French

[edit] Etymology

From Latin unicus.

[edit] Pronunciation

[edit] Adjective

unique (epicene, plural uniques)

  1. unique
  2. only

[edit] Related terms

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