Is it correct to describe something as “most unique”? It seems to me that “most” is redunant though it does add emphasis akin to expressions such as “very pregnant” and “very dead”.
most unique
September 27th, 2005 by Steve
5 Responses to “most unique”
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Teaching English to Preschoolers with iPhones
We (i.e. the creators of Pain in The English) developed a series of iPhone apps to teach preschool kids how to recognize letters and words. (My wife developed the characters and I did the coding.) Our own 4-year old daughter has been enjoying them. They are now available on Apple's App Store. You can search for "bitskis" on your iPhone, or visit the official website at bitskis.com.
If you have kids and own an iPhone, please check it out. It's $2.
It is not correct to use terms such as "most unique" or "very unique". Unique MEANS one-of-a-kind, not merely rare or unusual. People who misuse this term are also fond of employing ‘impact’ as a verb.
It is indeed correct to use ‘most unique’. A quick look in any good dictionary will show you that ‘unique’ has more than one meaning, as Steve has accurately discerned.
The misuse comes from people like Frederick who repeat these sorry fables.
Consider two unique things; item A and item B. Item A is much farther from the norm than item B. In my opinion, you could then say that A is more unique than B.
Chris
Item A is much farther from the norm than item B? Can you give me an example? I don't understand what that means.
OK, James, how about this?
"I did an experiment exposing ten fruit flies to high levels of radiation. The offspring of one was unique in that its eyes were an unusual shade of pink. The offspring of another was most unique in that it grew to a weight of 300 pounds and ate two of my lab assistants."
You may or may not find it grammatical, but I think it illustrates Chris's point.
Also, see dictionary.com:
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=unique
The usage note at the bottom discusses this issue quite well.