exclusive

Pluralexclusives

1. 1
   limitedadjective

   Shutting out or leaving out whatever does not meet certain conditions, so that only some people or things are included or allowed in.

   The early booking discount is exclusive to members who renewed before March.

   Their membership is exclusive, admitting only those who pass a strict test.

   UsageOften followed by to and the group let in: a discount exclusive to members.

   Note

   Something exclusive here works like a gate. It admits what meets the conditions and keeps the rest out, with no hint of snobbery. The prestige meaning grows from that same shutting.

2. 2
   for the eliteadjectivefiguratively

   Of a club, service, or product: high in quality or status and open only to a select few, with the suggestion that others are deliberately kept out.

   The label markets an exclusive perfume aimed at wealthy buyers.

   Their gym is exclusive, accepting only members who can pay the steep fee.

   UsageAds use it as praise, but calling a place exclusive can also suggest that it shuts people out by money, status or race.

   Similarselect, elite, upscale, high-end, luxurious

   Note

   Here the shut door becomes a selling point. The word flatters whoever is let in, and it moves easily from the club to what the club offers: exclusive clubs serve exclusive brands at exorbitant prices.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   A piece of news or a product that one outlet alone is given or manages to obtain.

   The network paid heavily for an exclusive with the retiring senator.

   Rival outlets scrambled after the tabloid published its exclusive.

   UsageOutlets get, land or run an exclusive, often with a person or on a story.

   Similarscoop

4. 4
   adjective

   Complete and undivided; given fully to one person or thing and not shared with others.

   For six months the engineers gave the bridge their exclusive attention.

   The coach expects his players' exclusive focus during practice.

   UsageMostly before a noun such as attention, focus or effort: give something your exclusive attention.

   Similarundivided, complete, full, entire, total

   Oppositedivided, partial

   Note

   The stress here is on wholeness, not on keeping anyone out. Exclusive attention is attention given whole, not split among several claims, and the word sits most naturally before nouns like attention or effort. Read it as "undivided" rather than "excluding": a newborn who demands its parents' exclusive attention is not keeping anyone out, just taking all of it.

5. 5
   adjective

   Held or used by a single person or group alone, with no part split off or shared with anyone else.

   The network paid billions for exclusive rights to broadcast the games.

   For the length of the lease, the tenant has exclusive possession of the property.

   Similarsole

   Oppositeshared, joint, nonexclusive

   Note

   The sense you meet in contracts and leases: it sits before nouns like rights, use, access and possession, and says that nobody else has a share. Keep it apart from the "upmarket" meaning: exclusive use of a room says who may enter it, while an exclusive hotel says who can afford it. The same idea gives a newspaper's exclusive, a story one outlet alone holds.

6. 6
   adjectivewith of

   Used with of to mean leaving out the thing named, so that it is not counted or included.

   All prices on the menu are listed exclusive of sales tax and gratuity.

   The museum holds about 4,000 paintings, exclusive of drawings and prints.

   Oppositeinclusive

   Note

   Followed by of, the adjective works like a preposition and means much the same as excluding: prices exclusive of tax, a total exclusive of fees. It is the phrasing of price lists, invoices and inventories rather than of conversation, and its partner inclusive of says the opposite. In speech most people would simply say not including.

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