especially

comparative more especially · superlative most especially · alternative abbreviation esp. · alternative abbreviation esp · alternative Internet esp · alternative Internet espc

1. mannerIn a special manner; specially.

   He got up early especially.

   1 more example

   L.N.E.R. class "Y6" 3 ft. 1 in. 0-4-0 steam tram locomotive No. 7133 This locomotive, constructed at the Stratford works of the former Great Eastern Railway in 1897, was one of six which were built between 1883 and 1897 especially to work the Wisbech and Upwell Tramway.

   1944 July and August, Railway Magazine, page 233, photo caption

2. focusParticularly; to a greater extent than is normal.

   Synonyms: in particular

3. Exeptionally.

   The buildings are not especially large.

   3 more examples

   In 1883, the contract came up for renewal, the L.N.W.R. received it, and the City of Dublin Steam Packet Company was set aside. But there was a certain miasma of secrecy about the affair, so that many, especially in Ireland, looked for information and insisted on getting it.

   1960 May 28, K. A. Murray, “Carlisle Pier, Dun Laoghaire”, in Railway Magazine, page 305

   There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

   At tech companies that spent recent years expanding paid parental leave, parents have felt the whiplash of mass layoffs in an especially visceral way.

   2023 April 11, Kurtis Lee, “California Economy Is on Edge After Tech Layoffs and Studio Cutbacks”, in The New York Times, →ISSN, archived from the original on 19 Apr 2023

4. focusUsed to place greater emphasis upon someone or something.

   Invite them all, especially Molly.

   2 more examples

   Captain Edward Carlisle[…]felt a curious sensation of helplessness seize upon him as he met her steady gaze,[…]; he could not tell what this prisoner might do. He cursed the fate which had assigned such a duty, cursed especially that fate which forced a gallant soldier to meet so superb a woman as this under handicap so hard.

   1910, Emerson Hough, chapter I, in The Purchase Price: Or The Cause of Compromise, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC

   There is now such an immense "microliterature" on hepatics that, beyond a certain point I have given up trying to integrate (and evaluate) every minor paper published—especially narrowly floristic papers.

   1992, Rudolf M[athias] Schuster, The Hepaticae and Anthocerotae of North America: East of the Hundredth Meridian, volume V, Chicago, Ill.: Field Museum of Natural History, →ISBN, page viii

   Synonyms: first and foremost