mutual exclusivity
mutual exclusivity — idiom
1. the situation where two things cannot happen, be chosen, or be true together, so
the situation where two things cannot happen, be chosen, or be true together, so if one of them is the case, the other one cannot be
Mayumi argued that a career and raising children are not a mutual exclusivity.
the mutual exclusivity of two life choices
The teacher explained the mutual exclusivity of these answers: only one can be right.
explaining why two options cannot both hold
Arjun reminds his friends there is no mutual exclusivity between saving money and enjoying life.
Voters often assume a mutual exclusivity between lower taxes and better public services.
Gabriela's study questioned the mutual exclusivity of speed and accuracy in the test results.
- incompatibility
broader: two things simply do not work well together, not strictly one-or-the-other
- either-or choice
informal phrasing of the same idea
- compatibility
the two things can both be true or happen together
文法句型
the mutual exclusivity of X and Y
用法筆記
Almost always uncountable and followed by 'of X and Y' or 'between X and Y'. Common in academic, legal, and debate contexts; rare in casual speech, where speakers say 'X and Y cannot both be true' instead.