exceptionalism

plural exceptionalisms

1. countableuncountableThe state of being special, exceptional or unique.
2. countableuncountableThe belief that something (a nation, species etc.) is exceptional, superior, or does not conform to an established norm.

   “This is a moment of American exceptionalism,” Jen Psaki, the White House press secretary, said when asked about the flight during a Tuesday news conference.

   2021 July 20, Neil Vigdor, quoting Jen Psaki, “Bezos thanks Amazon workers and customers for his vast wealth, prompting backlash.”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 24 Jul 2021

   2 more examples

   If Covid-19 eventually imbues human beings with some humility, it’s possible that we will, after all, be receptive to the lessons of this lethal pandemic. Or perhaps we will sink back into our culture of complacent exceptionalism and await the next plague that will surely arrive.

   2020 April 9, Richard Horton, “Coronavirus is the greatest global science policy failure in a generation”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 28 Apr 2021

   But in fact the antinomy of exceptionalism and assimilationism has been there all along, and otherwise puzzling decisions from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries become readily understandable when seen as moments when assimilationism was ascendant.

   2024 September 30, Michael Doran, “EXCEPTIONALISM AND ASSIMILATIONISM IN FEDERAL INDIAN LAW”, in Stanford Law School, volume 20, number 2, page 268, archived from the original on 24 Feb 2025

3. countableuncountableA philosophy of prevention or of intervention.