Is it ok to say most unique like your school is the most unique school you have ever worked at?

Answer 1

First AnswerI'm afraid it is not correct to say most unique. Describing something as unique means that it is one of it kind or that there not another one like it. To Quote from Cassell's "Guide to Common Errors in English" :- "Our attention to detail is what makes us unique and one of Britain's leading conservatory companies."

"There is an element of contradiction here. If something is 'unique' it is the only one of its kind. Whatever makes us 'unique' cannot also make us 'one of' a group. what makes us special and one of Britain's leading conservatory companies,' Is ok

If you had a old postal stamp that was so rare it was the only one of its kind left in the world, it would be unique (and presumably worth a lot of money). If you had two rare old postal stamps, which were the only ones left in all the world, both would be valuable, but neither would be unique. Burn one of them and the remaining one is unique. Whether this would make it worth more than twice the value of each of them would be interesting to find out.

Second AnswerUNIQUE: FIRST MEANING

The word unique means there is only one, having no equal. 'Unique' is an 'absolute' concept, i.e. one which cannot, one would think, be capable of further qualification by such the use of additional determiners or adverbs such as absolutely, most, totally, quite, rather etc.

However, it may be worth reminding ourselves that some 'absolutes' are emphasised by the addition of determiners such as absolutely, quite, totally, most etc.

e.g. "The man was quite dead." We might ask ourselves, How can someone be quite dead? Surely 'dead' is an absolute? A person is either dead or they are not! However, in this example, the speaker is using the word 'quite', not as a qualifier, but simply to add emphasis to the finality of the matter.

In the same way, the expressions 'absolutely unique', 'quite unique', 'most unique', 'totally unique' are often used. (Try a Google search on these expressions!)

UNIQUE: OTHER MEANINGS

The word, 'unique' is also often used to identify some thing/person/place that is outstanding, remarkable, special or unusual in some way.

An eccentric person who is multi-talented could easily be described as quite unique, meaning that they are unusual or outstandingly different from any other person.

Whether this would be literally true or not might be very difficult to prove, but the idea here is that they have outstanding characteristics, features of their personality and/or abilities which may prove to be unmatched by anyone else in the world.

--------------------------------------------------------------

So the word unique is used in a two ways, (i) in the absolute sense, and (ii) as an alternative to 'outstanding, remarkable, special unusual' etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------

CONTENTIONS

Whether or not the word 'unique' should be used when we actually mean 'quite outstanding' is arguable.

Similarly, it can be argued that something that is literally 'unique' cannot, by definition, or by any stretch of the imagination or language, also be described as most unique. Such an expression would appear to be tautology. A thing is either unique or it is not.

However, common usage in both of these situations indicates otherwise.

SUMMARY

There is no doubt that unique is used in different ways, sometimes in the absolute sense, and sometimes as an alternative for 'outstanding'. And even when used in an absolute sense, the word is sometimes emphasised, like a number of other absolutes, by the addition of determiners such as most or quite.

CONCLUSION

In one sense, one could say that all schools are unique! If so, then, on the matter of uniqueness, they are all equal, and one cannot be more unique than any other is unique.

So, to say 'of all the schools I know, this one is the most unique' will set alarm bells ringing! It doesn't compute! Because, by phrasing it in this way we are saying that all the schools we know are unique, and this one, by comparison, is the most unique of this group! This is not possible! If four different objects are unique, each in their own way, one of them cannot be more unique than any other! Therefore, in this specific instance it might be better to phrase the evaluation another way.

But if the school we work for seems to be outstanding in some way, it might seem natural to say "it is quite (or most) unique" meaning that it is significantly different from (better than?) any other school we may have worked at.

In other words, we cannot grade the 'uniqueness' any single member of group that is comprised of individual entities which each can be classified as 'unique'.

But it may be possible to identify one member of that group that is particularly oustanding in some way. It will not be 'the most unique' in comparison with the others having the same quality in the group, but, without making any comparisonswith others who may share similar qualities, we can state that a paricular item "is most unique." ... meaning that it is quite oustanding.

In the final analysis, it all depends on (a) what type of 'unique' is understood by the use of the word, and (b) whether or not that type of 'unique' can be further qualified or emphasised.

When the word 'unique' is used to mean 'sole', 'the only one', or 'without equal', then the use of modifiers is unnecessary, and would be incorrect. But taking the extended uses of the word, in some situations the use of a modifier might enhance and more clearly convey what we mean.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For more information on 'unique', see 'Related links' below.

Answer 2

Using "most unique" is generally not recommended as something is either unique (one of a kind) or not. Instead, you could say, "Your school is unlike any other school I have ever worked at."