Exclusive

//ɪkˈsklu.sɪv// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Common ·High school level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Information (or an artefact) that is granted or obtained exclusively.

    "The editor agreed to keep a lid on a potentially disastrous political scoop in exchange for an exclusive of a happier nature."

  2. 2
    a news report that is reported first by one news organization wordnet
  3. 3
    A member of a group who excludes others from their society.

    "The exclusives at the English Universities apply the term CAD to all non-members."

  4. 4
    A word or phrase that restricts something, such as only, solely, or simply.
Adjective
  1. 1
    Excluding items or members that do not meet certain conditions. literally
  2. 2
    Referring to a membership organisation, service or product: of high quality and/or renown, for superior members only. figuratively
  3. 3
    A snobbish usage, suggesting that members who do not meet requirements, which may be financial, of social status, religion, skin colour etc., are excluded.

    "Exclusive clubs tend to serve exclusive brands of food and drinks, in the same exorbitant price range, such as the 'finest' French châteaux."

  4. 4
    Exclusionary.
  5. 5
    Whole, undivided, entire.

    "The teacher's pet commands the teacher's exclusive attention."

Show 2 more definitions
  1. 6
    Of or relating to the first-person plural pronoun when excluding the person being addressed.

    "The pronoun in "We're going to a party later, but you aren't invited" is an exclusive "we"."

  2. 7
    Having a romantic or sexual relationship with one another, to the exclusion of others.

    "They decided to no longer be exclusive."

Adjective
  1. 1
    not divided among or brought to bear on more than one object or objective wordnet
  2. 2
    excluding much or all; especially all but a particular group or minority wordnet
  3. 3
    not divided or shared with others wordnet

Example

More examples

"The two qualities are mutually exclusive."

Etymology

From Latin exclūsīvus, from excludere (“to shut out, exclude”), from ex- (“out”) + variant form of verb claudere (“to close, shut”).

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.