“Unique” – why this word can never be right

Again and again you read the word “only one” on the Internet. It appears in forums or comments and it can also be found here on GIGA – but not in the articles. Because it’s wrong. You could even say “the most wrong”. We also explain to you why this is so.

A superlative is the highest form of an adjective in grammar. Most “adjectives” can be increased. The basic form is called “positive” – for example the word “large”. The first step is called “comparative” – that means something like “larger”. And the “superlative” is the highest form of improvement – it doesn’t get any higher. In this case it is “greatest”. It doesn’t get bigger than the biggest and that is exactly the problem with the “only one”.

The very-very-only thing?

As already mentioned at the beginning: Most adjectives can be increased. There are gradations, although strictly speaking they do not always make sense. It can actually be a little tasty, tasty and the tastiest, although of course the thing is tasty in all three cases.

But there are also “absolute adjectives”. This means properties that simply cannot be increased. Pregnant is one of them. One cannot be “a little bit pregnant” nor “more pregnant than another person”.

And these absolute adjectives include words like empty or full, New, dead or square – and also only. If you are the only child, no one can be “the only” or even “the only”. Only describes a case that only exists once and cannot be increased.

If you think about it, you immediately understand the principle. There is no such thing optimal solution: Only one solution can be optimal. The others may be good, but – as a doctor would put it – suboptimal, so under optimal.

So if you ever want to write a comment somewhere and you are itching to write “only one” … then leave it. You know better now.

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