different between unique vs private

English

Etymology

Borrowed from French unique.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ju??ni?k/
• Rhymes: -i?k

Adjective

unique (comparative uniquer or more unique, superlative uniquest or most unique)

1. (not comparable) Being the only one of its kind; unequaled, unparalleled or unmatched.

   Synonyms: one of a kind, sui generis, singular

2. Of a feature, such that only one holder has it.
3. Particular, characteristic.
4. (proscribed) Of a rare quality, unusual.

Usage notes

• The comparative and superlative forms uniquer or more unique and uniquest or most unique, as well as the use of unique with modifiers as in fairly unique and very unique, are grammatically proscribed, with the reasoning that either something is unique or it is not.

Derived terms

• uniquely
• uniqueness
• uniquity

Related terms

• unicity
• one-of-a-kind
• inimitable

Translations

Noun

unique (plural uniques)

1. A thing without a like; something unequalled or unparallelled; one of a kind.
   • a. 1859, Thomas De Quincey, Language

     The phoenix, the unique of birds.

Translations

Further reading

• unique in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• unique in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• “unique” in Roget's Thesaurus, T. Y. Crowell Co., 1911.

French

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin ?nicus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /y.nik/

Adjective

unique (plural uniques)

1. unique
2. only

Derived terms

Related terms

• un

Descendants

• ? Danish: unik
• ? Dutch: uniek
• ? Norwegian Bokmål: unik
• ? Norwegian Nynorsk: unik
• ? Swedish: unik
• ? Turkish: ünik

Further reading

• “unique” in Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).

English

Etymology

From Latin pr?v?tus (“bereaved, deprived, set apart from”), perfect passive participle of pr?v? (“I bereave, deprive”), from pr?vus (“private, one's own, peculiar”), ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *per; compare prime, prior, pristine.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?p?a?v?t/, /?p?a?v?t/
• Hyphenation: pri?vate

Adjective

private (comparative more private, superlative most private)

1. Belonging to, concerning, or accessible only to an individual person or a specific group.
2. Not accessible by the public.

3. Not in governmental office or employment.
4. Not publicly known; not open; secret.
5. Protected from view or disturbance by others; secluded.

6. Not traded by the public.
7. Secretive; reserved.

8. (US, of a room in a medical facility) Not shared with another patient.
9. (not comparable, object-oriented programming) Accessible only to the class itself or instances of it, and not to other classes or even subclasses.

Synonyms

• (done in the view of others): secluded
• (intended only for one's own use): personal
• (not accessible by the public):
• (not publicly known): secret

Antonyms

• public

Hyponyms

• package-private

Translations

Noun

private (plural privates)

1. A soldier of the lowest rank in the army.
2. A doctor working in privately rather than publicly funded health care.
   • 1973, Health/PAC Bulletin (issues 48-67, page 2)

     In the cities and towns of California, privates are pressuring county governments to close or reduce in size their hospitals and to pay private hospitals for the care of low-income patients. Thus everything is stacked against public hospitals.

   • 1993, United States. Congress. Senate. Committee on the Judiciary. Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs, The implementation of employer sanctions: Hearings

     Because you are already moving people with the limitations of what we did in 1982 on the capping of Medicare, you are finding out that the privates are picking up that slack, […]

3. (euphemistic, in the plural) The genitals.
4. (obsolete) A secret message; a personal unofficial communication.
5. (obsolete) Personal interest; particular business.

   • Nor must I be unmindful of my private.

6. (obsolete) Privacy; retirement.
7. (obsolete) One not invested with a public office.
8. (usually in the plural) A private lesson.

Synonyms

• (genitals): bits, private parts

Translations

Derived terms

References

• private at OneLook Dictionary Search
• private in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• "private" in Raymond Williams, Keywords (revised), 1983, Fontana Press, page 242.
• private in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Esperanto

Etymology

From privata (“private”) +? -e (adverbial ending).

Adverb

private

1. privately

German

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -a?t?

Adjective

private

1. inflection of privat:
   1. strong/mixed nominative/accusative feminine singular
   2. strong nominative/accusative plural
   3. weak nominative all-gender singular
   4. weak accusative feminine/neuter singular

Italian

Adjective

private

1. feminine plural of privato

Verb

private

1. feminine plural past participle of privare
2. second-person plural indicative present of privare
3. second-person plural imperative of privare

Anagrams

• prative

Latin

Verb

pr?v?te

1. second-person plural present active imperative of pr?v?

Norwegian Bokmål

Adjective

private

1. definite singular of privat
2. plural of privat

Norwegian Nynorsk

Adjective

private

1. definite singular of privat
2. plural of privat

Swedish

Adjective

private

1. absolute definite natural masculine form of privat.