uniqueness
Americannoun
-
the quality of being unlike anything else of its kind or of being solitary in type or characteristics.
Owing to its physical and behavioral uniqueness, the osprey is classified in its own family.
-
the quality of being unequaled, incomparable, or unusual.
Critics are praising the uniqueness of her performance art.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of uniqueness
First recorded in 1800–05; unique ( def. ) + -ness ( def. )
Explanation
Are you one of a kind? Then you must have some kind of uniqueness, some quality that makes you stand out from all the rest. When you break down the word uniqueness, it’s easy to see what it means. First you notice the word unique, which means “one of a kind.” Then you notice -ness, a common suffix that’s used to form nouns that refer to a state of being. Put it together and you get uniqueness, a noun used to describe that certain something that makes a person or thing uncommon or singular, like "the uniqueness of a famous opera singer’s voice."
Vocabulary lists containing uniqueness
Sula
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The Suffix -ness, Part 4
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Using Uniqueness of Power Series on the uniqueness of power series representations, we know that coefficients of the same degree must be equal.
From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016
Recall from Uniqueness of Power Series that power series representations are unique.
From Textbooks • Mar. 30, 2016
Turns out they are in many cases say the researchers in a recently published paper, “Why Johnny Can’t Browse The Internet In Peace: On The Uniqueness of Web Browsing History Patterns.”
From Forbes • Aug. 1, 2012
Uniqueness is so commonplace a property of living things that there is really nothing at all unique about it.
From Time Magazine Archive
Uniqueness of Style.—Again, a writer will resort to uniqueness of form or style to get his effect.
From News Writing The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories by Spencer, M. Lyle (Matthew Lyle)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
