Exhibit vs Exhibition
The difference between exhibit and exhibition can raise many eye brows since it is very subtle and escapes the attention if you do not pay attention. Now, there are many pairs of words with similar meanings that are very confusing for non-native speakers of English language. One such pair of words is Exhibit and Exhibition that have subtle differences though used interchangeably by most people. Even artists make use of these words as if they were synonyms making it all the more difficult for common people. If you are talking about artwork, which is displayed at a place, you can make use of either of these two words. Even when talking about other things, the same point is driven home with both words. It is only when one wishes to delve deeper the choice of the correct word truly matters. Let us see, if there are indeed differences between exhibit and exhibition.
What does Exhibit mean?
Exhibit is often the work of a single artist that can be found inside an exhibition housing works of several artists. However, there is no hard and fast rule regarding the number of artists. The display of a single artist in a place can also be referred to as an exhibit. Now, here is the definition of exhibit as given by the Oxford English dictionary. An exhibit is “an object or collection of objects on public display in an art gallery or museum or at a trade fair.” Look at the following example.
We went to see the Van Gogh exhibit.
Here, Van Gogh exhibit means a painting by Van Gogh. As a noun, exhibit has another important meaning in the legal field. In the legal field, an exhibit is an object (a document or any other object) presented in the court as evidence.
The knife found in the victim’s house was produced as exhibit 01 to the court.
Exhibit, when used as a verb, can be applied to a number of situations; a doctor uses it to mean symptoms displayed by a patient in a particular ailment.
The patient exhibited symptoms too late.
A person can be thus said to exhibit emotions of anger or irritability under certain situations.
The excessive calmness he exhibited made me worried.
What does Exhibition mean?
Exhibition is a public display of art work or any items of interest, held in an art gallery or museum or trade fair. Exhibiting is a verb that refers to the act or process of showing or displaying artworks at a place. Thus, exhibition is a noun that refers to display of artworks of several artists in a single place.
In general, exhibit and exhibition lie on the same scale and the difference pertains to the level of display. While an exhibit is on a smaller scale, an exhibition is a large selection of artworks. These days, the word exhibition, is also being used to refer trade shows of electronic and other items to display or launch new models. Exhibition is also used to praise the skills of an artist as when experts describe the exhibition of acting skills of a performer in a play.
“Exhibition of Armor”
What is the difference between Exhibit and Exhibition?
• In common parlance, both exhibit and exhibition are used to refer to display of artwork at a place for people to visit and analyze.
• Exhibit is used commonly for the artwork of a single artist in an exhibition where works of several artists are on display.
• Exhibit is used both as a noun as well as a verb.
• Exhibition is only used as a noun.
• When used as a verb, exhibit refers to the act of showing or displaying.
• As a noun, exhibit is also used for evidence produced at a court.
Image Courtesy: armor via Pixabay