Illustration of unicorn
unicorn
noun
uni·corn
ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯrn 
plural unicorns
1
a
: 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
Damon DarlinIn Washington, D.C., truth is now a veritable unicorn.—Marilyn M. Singleton
Marilyn M. Singleton… he's like baseball's version of a unicorn—a true two-way player.—Tony Paul
Tony Paul3
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
Scott MartinThe 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
Jon Swartz
Examples of unicorn in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
On the other side of Cohen, Lucy wore a fairy unicorn costume, complete with a pink and purple tutu and white wings.
—Emma Aerin Becker, People.com, 5 Nov. 2024
Former unicorns Alto and Capsule conducted multiple rounds of layoffs, with the latter reportedly struggling with automation efforts.
—Claire Rychlewski, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024
There are established tech giant stocks with the Wall Street moniker FAANG (Facebook/Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google/Alphabet) and many unicorns in emerging artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity sectors.
—Roomy Khan, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of companies founded by former employees of fintech unicorns were founded in the same city as the unicorn, according to Accel.
—Ryan Browne, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for unicorn 
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Emma Aerin Becker, People.com, 5 Nov. 2024
Former unicorns Alto and Capsule conducted multiple rounds of layoffs, with the latter reportedly struggling with automation efforts.
—Claire Rychlewski, Axios, 4 Nov. 2024
There are established tech giant stocks with the Wall Street moniker FAANG (Facebook/Meta, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google/Alphabet) and many unicorns in emerging artificial intelligence, cloud computing, and cybersecurity sectors.
—Roomy Khan, Forbes, 28 Oct. 2024
Nearly two-thirds (61%) of companies founded by former employees of fintech unicorns were founded in the same city as the unicorn, according to Accel.
—Ryan Browne, CNBC, 22 Oct. 2024
See all Example Sentences for unicorn
Dictionary Entries Near unicorn
Cite this Entry
“Unicorn.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/unicorn. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
unicorn
noun
uni·corn
ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯ(ə)rn
: 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 corn entry 3, universe
Medical Definition
unicorn
adjective
uni·corn
ˈyü-nə-ˌkȯ(ə)rn
: having a single horn or hornlike process
a unicorn uterus
Love words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share