Buzz
Earlier this year, the New York Public Library hosted an extensive display of archival materials related to the life of author Virginia Woolf. But would this be called an exhibit or an exhibition?
In reality, both terms are technically correct. However, some people may debate whether 'exhibit' is suitable in this scenario. As Grammarist explains, an exhibit refers to 'a public showing of an object... or a small group of objects,' while an exhibition is described as 'a public display of a larger set of such items, often linked by a theme.' So, an exhibition is essentially made up of multiple exhibits, and a smaller exhibition could simply be called an exhibit.
However, 'small' can be subjective. It’s not as if there’s a strict cutoff where an exhibit becomes an exhibition once it hits 25 items. The Oxford English Dictionary offers a different perspective based on provenance instead of size: An exhibit is 'a collection of articles sent by a single person, group, or country to an exhibition.' This also supports Grammarist’s definition of an exhibit as any individual object in an exhibition.
Since at least the late 19th century, North American English speakers have used 'exhibit' as a direct synonym for 'exhibition.' This usage became so widespread that in 1993, the OED updated its definition of 'exhibit' to include 'exhibition.' Thus, the two terms can be swapped in many contexts, regardless of the scale of the display. However, British English speakers tend to prefer 'exhibition,' while many North American speakers continue to use 'exhibit.' (But when referring to a single item on display, 'exhibit' is the word to use.)
One could argue that this is a classic example of a term being used so frequently and for so long in an incorrect manner that it eventually becomes accepted as correct. This is a natural part of language evolution; some words have even come to mean the opposite of their original definition.
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