particularize

present singular third person particularizes · participle present particularizing · participle past particularized · past particularized · alternative particularise

1. transitiveTo make particular, as opposed to general; to restrict to a specific or individual case, class etc.; to single out.

   Synonyms: set apart

2. intransitivetransitiveTo be specific about (individual instances); to go into detail (about), to specify.

   'Tis hard I confesse, yet I have disposed of them as I could, and will descend to particularize them according to their species.

   1624, Democritus Junior [pseudonym; Robert Burton], The Anatomy of Melancholy: […], 2nd edition, Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] John Lichfield and James Short, for Henry Cripps, →OCLC, partition 1, section 3, member 1, subsection 4

   2 more examples

   Twice we find him, not only boasting of his Parentage, as an Israelite at large, but particularizing his Descent from the Tribe of Benjamin.

   1709 December 6, Francis Atterbury, A Sermon preached before the Sons of the Clergy, at their Anniversary-Meeting in the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Dec 6, 1709; published in Sermons and Discourses on Several Subjects and Occasions, 8th edition, volume 2, sermon 8, 1766, pages 256–257

   Now it is his daily work to particularize, item by item, the iniquities of the system, and the petty manifestations of the tyranny here in Arras.

   1992, Hilary Mantel, A Place of Greater Safety, Harper Perennial, published 2007, page 110

   Synonyms: clarify

3. intransitiveTo differentiate, make distinct from others.

   Synonyms: distinguish