: a mythical, usually white animal generally depicted with the body and head of a horse with long flowing mane and tail and a single often spiraled horn in the middle of the forehead
b
: an animal mentioned in the Bible that is usually considered an aurochs, a one-horned rhinoceros, or an antelope
2
: something unusual, rare, or unique
There's the elusive unicorn: headphones that do everything well and work in any situation.—Damon Darlin
In Washington, D.C., truth is now a veritable unicorn.—Marilyn M. Singleton
… he's like baseball's version of a unicorn—a true two-way player.—Tony Paul
3
business: a start-up that is valued at one billion dollars or more
… a tech unicorn in Michigan is even more of a rarity, far from Silicon Valley's investor echo chamber.—Scott Martin
The blockbuster initial public offering is expected to kick off a revitalized market this year, encouraging IPO debuts by other unicorns, the privately held start-ups whose hefty venture capital funds have allowed them to avoid Wall Street and the legal requirements of a public offering.—Jon Swartz
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The group, which includes unicorns like Palmer Luckey’s Anduril, Shield AI and artificial intelligence beneficiary Palantir, is taking on legacy giants such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman, that have long leaned on contracts from the Pentagon.—Samantha Subin, CNBC, 10 Oct. 2025 Best Mess-Free Craft Kit If your kid likes scratch art—and fairies, rainbows, and unicorns—this kit is sure to be a hit.—Pamela Brill, Parents, 2 Oct. 2025 Koh became the youngest female founder leading a unicorn through her vision of improving access to mental-health care via her startup Spring Health, which is used in over 40 countries.—Sam Jacobs, Time, 30 Sep. 2025 The 7-foot-3 unicorn, still in the early stages of rewriting how basketball is played, just made a move few in the world can.—Jared Weiss, New York Times, 29 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for unicorn
Word History
Etymology
Middle English unicorne, from Anglo-French, from Late Latin unicornis, from Latin, having one horn, from uni- + cornu horn — more at horn
: an imaginary animal generally represented with the body and head of a horse and a single horn in the middle of the forehead
Etymology
Middle English unicorne "unicorn," from early French unicorne (same meaning), derived from Latin unicornis "having one horn," from uni- "one" and cornu "horn" — related to cornentry 3, universe
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