We lost "hopefully" a long time ago..."literally" is in intensive care...
What's on grammatical life support now?
Unique.
Yes, I know you know it means one of a kind, without equal or equivalent, unparalleled.
There are no gradations. Something isn't very one of a kind, therefore it can't be very unique.
Eighty percent of the members of the Usage Panel at the Free Dictionary agree with us.
Based on how often I hear things described as very unique, though, I think we're losing this one, too.
