What's the difference between key and unique?

Key


Definition:

  • (n.) An instrument by means of which the bolt of a lock is shot or drawn; usually, a removable metal instrument fitted to the mechanism of a particular lock and operated by turning in its place.
  • (n.) An instrument which is turned like a key in fastening or adjusting any mechanism; as, a watch key; a bed key, etc.
  • (n.) That part of an instrument or machine which serves as the means of operating it; as, a telegraph key; the keys of a pianoforte, or of a typewriter.
  • (n.) A position or condition which affords entrance, control, pr possession, etc.; as, the key of a line of defense; the key of a country; the key of a political situation. Hence, that which serves to unlock, open, discover, or solve something unknown or difficult; as, the key to a riddle; the key to a problem.
  • (n.) That part of a mechanism which serves to lock up, make fast, or adjust to position.
  • (n.) A piece of wood used as a wedge.
  • (n.) The last board of a floor when laid down.
  • (n.) A keystone.
  • (n.) That part of the plastering which is forced through between the laths and holds the rest in place.
  • (n.) A wedge to unite two or more pieces, or adjust their relative position; a cotter; a forelock.
  • (n.) A bar, pin or wedge, to secure a crank, pulley, coupling, etc., upon a shaft, and prevent relative turning; sometimes holding by friction alone, but more frequently by its resistance to shearing, being usually embedded partly in the shaft and partly in the crank, pulley, etc.
  • (n.) An indehiscent, one-seeded fruit furnished with a wing, as the fruit of the ash and maple; a samara; -- called also key fruit.
  • (n.) A family of tones whose regular members are called diatonic tones, and named key tone (or tonic) or one (or eight), mediant or three, dominant or five, subdominant or four, submediant or six, supertonic or two, and subtonic or seven. Chromatic tones are temporary members of a key, under such names as " sharp four," "flat seven," etc. Scales and tunes of every variety are made from the tones of a key.
  • (n.) The fundamental tone of a movement to which its modulations are referred, and with which it generally begins and ends; keynote.
  • (n.) Fig: The general pitch or tone of a sentence or utterance.
  • (v. t.) To fasten or secure firmly; to fasten or tighten with keys or wedges.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Community involvement is a key element of the Primary Health Care (PHC) approach, and thus an essential topic on a course for managers of Primary Health Care programmes.
  • (2) A key way of regaining public trust will be reforming the system of remuneration as agreed by the G20.
  • (3) Instead, the White House opted for a low-key approach, publishing a blogpost profiling Trinace Edwards, a brain-tumour victim who recently discovered she was eligible for Medicaid coverage.
  • (4) The presence of a few key residues in the amino-terminal alpha-helix of each ligand is sufficient to confer specificity to the interaction.
  • (5) The key warning from the Fed chair A summary of Bernanke's hearing Earlier... MPs in London quizzed the Bank of England on Libor.
  • (6) "Seller reports are key to identifying bad buyers and ridding them from our marketplace," says eBay.
  • (7) It is suggested that the low-density lipoprotein receptors in human fetal liver may play a key role in the regulation of the serum cholesterol levels during gestation.
  • (8) A key component of a career program should be recognition of a nurse's needs and the program should be evaluated to determine if these needs are met.
  • (9) As novel antibody therapeutics are developed for different malignancies and require evaluation with cells previously uncharacterized as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC) targets, efficient description of key parameters of the assay system expedites the preclinical assessment.
  • (10) Meanwhile, Hunt has been accused of backtracking on a key recommendation in the official report into Mid Staffs.
  • (11) The safe motherhood initiative demands an intersectoral, collaborative approach to gynecology, family planning, and child health in which midwifery is the key element.
  • (12) Acetylcholinesterase is a key enzyme in cholinergic neurotransmission for hydrolyzing acetylcholine and has been shown to possess arylacylamidase activity in addition to esterase activity.
  • (13) If Lagarde had been placed under formal investigation in the Tapie case, it would have risked weakening her position and further embarrassing both the IMF and France by heaping more judicial worries on a key figure on the international stage.
  • (14) Four goals, four assists, and constant movement have been a key part of the team’s success.
  • (15) Mechanosensitive ion channels may play a key role in transducing vascular smooth muscle (VSM) stretch into active force development.
  • (16) But Abaaoud, the man thought to be a key planner for the group behind the Paris attacks, boasted to a niece that he had brought around 90 militants back to Europe with him.
  • (17) Key therapeutic questions are whether beta-lactams can safely replace aminoglycosides for the treatment of gram-negative pneumonia, and whether monotherapy or aminoglycoside and beta-lactam combination antibiotic treatment is superior.
  • (18) Teaching procedures then establish and build these key components to fluency.
  • (19) Doubts about Hinkley Point have deepened after a detailed report by HSBC’s energy analysts described eight key challenges to the project, which will be built by the state-backed French firm EDF and be part-financed by investment from China .
  • (20) The Lords will vote on three key amendments: • To exclude child benefit from the cap calculation (this would roughly halve the number of households affected).

Unique


Definition:

  • (a.) Being without a like or equal; unmatched; unequaled; unparalleled; single in kind or excellence; sole.
  • (n.) A thing without a like; something unequaled or unparalleled.

Example Sentences:

  • (1) Virtually every developed country has some form of property tax, so the idea that valuing residential property is uniquely difficult, or that it would be widely evaded, is nonsense.
  • (2) Chromatographic maps of DNA adducts demonstrated unique patterns of DNA adducts for each of the regions.
  • (3) A sperm whale myoglobin gene containing multiple unique restriction sites has been constructed in pUC 18 by sequential assembly of chemically synthesized oligonucleotide fragments.
  • (4) The temporary loss of a family member through deployment brings unique stresses to a family in three different stages: predeployment, survival, and reunion.
  • (5) This is a report concerning a unique combination of Alzheimer's disease with the following refluxes: buccosalivary, gastroesophageal, vesicoureteral, urethroprostatic and urethrovesicular, along with neurogenic bowel and neuropathic bladder.
  • (6) A constellation of histologic lesions was identified in brain (diffuse meningoencephalitis with bilaterally symmetrical thalamic necrosis), liver (pericholangiohepatitis), lung (pneumonitis), and spleen (lymphoid hyperplasia); this tetrad is apparently unique to this model system.
  • (7) Monoclonal antibodies to human thyroglobulin may offer a unique opportunity to confirm the tissue origin of cutaneous metastasis.
  • (8) The presence of a previously unreported dipeptide transport mechanism within blood leukocytes and the selective enrichment of the granule enzyme, DPPI, within cytotoxic effector cells of lymphoid or myeloid lineage appear to afford a unique mechanism for the targeting of immunotherapeutic reagents composed of simple dipeptide esters or amides.
  • (9) The problem-based system provides a unique integration of acquiring theoretical knowledge in the basic sciences through clinical problem solving which was highly rated in all analysed phases.
  • (10) Radio-immunoprecipitation and partial proteolytic digest mapping showed that the monoclonal antibodies each recognized a unique epitope.
  • (11) Structural studies indicate that caveolae are decorated on their cytoplasmic surface by a unique array of filaments or strands that form striated coatings.
  • (12) Silicon, a relatively unknown trace element in nutritional research, has been uniquely localized in active calcification sites in young bone.
  • (13) These neurons can be identified uniquely by 3H-thymidine exposure during the week preceding the neurogenesis of cortical layer 6.
  • (14) But it is a huge logistical problem – unique in the world.
  • (15) A basic premise is that emotional process is not unique to homo sapiens and that human behavior might better be understood by observing this process in the broader context of all natural systems.
  • (16) Although GD1a was also found in the lung, heart, kidney, and spleen, its expression within the murine immune cells under investigation was unique to TH2 lymphocytes.
  • (17) "Our black, Muslim and Jewish citizens will sleep much less easily now the BBC has legitimised the BNP by treating its racist poison as the views of just another mainstream political party when it is so uniquely evil and dangerous."
  • (18) The unique case of an elderly man presenting with right L2-3 radiculopathy is described.
  • (19) Because each linkage project is different, the modular nature of the software allows for better control of the programming process and development of unique strategies.
  • (20) The testing of this program with HSIRPR cDNA release (EMBL data bank) indicated the presence of unique features in the signal peptide coding region.