sooner this year , the New York Public Library bring host to anexpansive showingof archival material from the life sentence of authorVirginia Woolf . So would you call that anexhibitor anexhibition ?
Technically , both are correct — though some masses might take issue withexhibitin that context of use . According to Grammarist , an exhibit is “ a public display of an physical object … or a small ingathering of objects , ” while an exhibition is “ a public display of a big selection of such particular , unified by theme . ” In other words , an exposition is made up of exhibit , and a small exhibition is really just an exhibit .
Butsmallleaves a draw up to interpretation ; it ’s not like once you score 25 items , your exhibit is large enough to be look at an exhibition . TheOxford English Dictionaryoffers an alternative eminence involving provenience rather than size : An exhibit is a “ collection of clause sent by any one individual , house , state , etc . to an ‘ exposition . ’ ” It also validates Grammarist ’s definition ofexhibitas any unmarried object in an exhibition .
Since at least the recent 19th century , however , North American English speaker system have been usingexhibitas a direct synonym forexhibition . The trend became so common that in 1993 , the OED finally updated its first appearance forexhibitto includeexhibitionas another definition . So the two damage can be used interchangeably , regardless of the scale of the installation in question . British English loudspeaker system typically preferexhibition , whereas many North American English speaker still prefer forexhibit . ( But if you ’re talking about one detail on display , the word you need isexhibit . )
You could argue that this is a Hellenic case of a full term ’s beingmisusedso wide and for so long that it finally gets accepted as correct . That ’s just howlanguageevolves ; some Word of God have even becometheir own opposite .
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