specific

comparative more specific · superlative most specific · alternative obsolete specifick

1. Explicit or definite.

   While some participants, like Gabi and Jasmine, had access to a gym but still felt uncertain about using specific types of equipment, others who trained at home faced even greater challenges due to the absence of both a coach and proper equipment.

   2025 August 20, Ashlyn Barry, Justin A. Haegele, Daniel Schaefer, Kristen A. Pickett, Luis Columna, “Autistic Young Adults’ Experiences and Recommendations for Strength Training”, in Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, →DOI

   Synonyms: express

2. biologyPertaining to a species, as a taxon or taxa at the rank of species.

   Holonyms: generic, familial

   2 more examples

   Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific

   Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.

   2008, Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Oxford, published 2009, page 3

3. in compoundssometimesSpecial, distinctive or unique.

   A psychologist told WJLA TV that, for the most part, this isn’t a Cocomelon-specific issue. The main issue is too much screen time and children's shows with fast-paced sequences.

   2023 April 26, Rayna Skiver, “Actually Bad for Kids? Here’s What Experts Say”, in Green Matters

   Synonyms: singular

4. intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
5. Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.

   a highly specific test

   1 more example

   specific and nonspecific symptoms

6. Being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms.

   Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.

   2 more examples

   Any improvement in secondary sciatica is probably due to the analgesic action of the sodium salicylate, but in primary sciatica, in all likelihood “rheumatic,” the effect of the sodium salicylate appears to be specific rather than symptomatic.

   The study of specific medicines is too much disregarded now. No doubt, the hunting after specifics is a mark of ignorance and weakness in medicine, yet the neglect of them is proof also of immaturity; for, in fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of science.

   1830 May 23, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Constitutional and Functional Life—Hysteria—Hydro-carbonic Gas—Bitters and Tonics—Specific Medicines”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1835, →OCLC, page 147

7. immunologyLimited to a particular antibody or antigen.
8. natural sciencesOf a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy).
9. natural sciencesSimilarly referring to a value divided by any measure which acts to standardize it (e.g. thrust specific fuel consumption, referring to fuel consumption divided by thrust).
10. natural sciencesA measure compared with a standard reference value by division, to produce a ratio without unit or dimension (e.g. specific refractive index is a pure number, and is relative to that of air).

plural specifics · alternative obsolete specifick

1. A distinguishing attribute or quality.
2. A remedy for a specific disease or condition.

   A compound of spurge, cardamom, cinnamon of Mecca, pellitory, ginger, nettle seed is an Arab specific for sexual weakness.

   1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 228

   3 more examples

   Change of scene, and a new lover, are infallible specifics, always supposing there is no character for constancy to be supported: if I witness the violent sorrow of to-day, I impose upon to-morrow the necessity of being sorry also.

   1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 201

   If Burd Ellen had gone “widishins" round the church, she would, I think, have used the best homoeopathic specific against the Elf-King's power; for "to go widishins" was the chief element in elfin practices, and if mortals wished to resist or unspell elf-craft, they, too, had "to go widershins," or they had to repeat the Paternoster backwards, which came to the same thing, or do something else contrariwise.

   1891 January 3, I. Gollancz, “Widishins”, in The Academy, London, page 14, column 3

   I had no unreasonable fear of bats, […] yet I knew them too for carriers of the dread “Hydrophobia,” for which there was no specific.

   1968, Charles Portis, True Grit

3. Specification.
4. in pluralThe details; particulars.
5. The distinguishing part of a toponym.

   With the exception of names of pan-Canadian significance and some alternate forms approved by provincial authorities, the specific is not translated.

   2024 July 29, “geographical names: translation”, in Writing Tips Plus, Ottawa: Translation Bureau, retrieved 09 Nov 2024

   Antonyms: generic