unique

unique — adjective

1. When something is unique, it is the single example of its type in existence — no

1.形容詞A2
釋義

When something is unique, it is the single example of its type in existence — no other thing is exactly like it in any way.

例句

The painting hanging in the museum is a unique artwork by a little-known artist.

Each person has a unique pattern of fingerprints that no one else shares.

collocation: unique pattern / unique feature

同義詞
  • singular

    slightly more formal; emphasises that something stands apart from all others

  • unparalleled

    stronger — suggests nothing else even comes close in quality

  • exclusive

    focuses on belonging to only one person or group, not on being one of a kind

  • one-of-a-kind

    more informal and conversational than 'unique'

反義詞
  • common

    found or happening frequently; the opposite of rare or special

  • ordinary

    not special, different, or unusual in any way

用法筆記

Traditionally, 'unique' is considered an absolute adjective — something is either unique or it is not. In formal writing, avoid strengthening it with 'very', 'most', or 'quite'. However, in everyday informal English, people often use 'unique' to mean 'very unusual' and do add such modifiers.

常見錯誤

❌This is a very unique design.
✅This is a truly unique design.
💡Some style guides consider 'very unique' illogical because unique means 'the only one'; use 'truly' or 'absolutely' instead if you mean 'completely one of a kind'.

2. When a characteristic is unique to someone or something, that characteristic bel

2.形容詞B2
釋義

When a characteristic is unique to someone or something, that characteristic belongs only to that individual, location, or circumstance and cannot be discovered anywhere else on earth.

例句

This species of bird is unique to the eastern coast of Taiwan.

grammar: unique to + [place]

The problems that face island communities are unique to their geography.

同義詞
  • peculiar to

    more formal; often used in academic writing about characteristics of a group

  • specific to

    emphasises that something applies to a particular thing and not others

  • exclusive to

    stresses that only one person or group has access to or experiences something

反義詞
  • universal

    applying to everyone or everything everywhere; the opposite of being limited to one

  • common to

    found or shared by many people, places, or things

文法句型

unique + to + [noun phrase]

用法筆記

This sense is almost always followed by the preposition 'to' (unique to + person/place/situation). Do not use 'for' or 'of' in place of 'to'. Unlike sense 1, this sense is naturally comparative — something can be 'unique to' one place but not to another, so using modifiers like 'largely unique to' is acceptable.

常見錯誤

❌This problem is unique for our city.
✅This problem is unique to our city.
💡The correct preposition after 'unique' in this sense is 'to', not 'for' or 'of'.