specific
English
Alternative forms
- specifick (obsolete)
Etymology
From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus (“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + faciō (“make”).
Pronunciation
Adjective
specific (comparative more specific, superlative most specific)
- explicit or definite
- (sciences) Pertaining to a species.
- 2008, Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Oxford 2009, p. 3:
- 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 2009, p. 3:
- (taxonomy) pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species
- special, distinctive or unique
- intended for, or applying to, a particular thing
- being a remedy for a particular disease
- Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
- 1830 May 23, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Specific Medicines”, in Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge, volume I, London: J. Murray, page 147:
- 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.
- (immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen
- (physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)
- (physics) similarly 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)
- (physics) a 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)
Synonyms
- (special, distinctive or unique): singular; see also Thesaurus:unique
- (intended for a particular thing): peculiar, singular; see also Thesaurus:specific
Antonyms
- (all): unspecific
- (intended for a particular thing): broad, general, generic, universal; see also Thesaurus:generic
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Hyponyms
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- application-specific
- array-specific
- browser-specific
- client-specific
- company-specific
- conspecific
- container-specific
- culture-specific
- database-specific
- domain-specific
- Eclipse-specific
- flight-specific
- HTTP-specific
- infraspecific
- interspecific
- intraspecific
- JSON-specific
- MySQL-specific
- OS-specific
- platform-specific
- problem-specific
- program-specific
- prostate-specific
- recording-specific
- serotonin-specific
- server-specific
- species-specific
- store-specific
- task-specific
- topic-specific
Derived terms
- specific charge
- specific energy
- specific epithet
- specific fuel consumption
- specific gravity
- specific heat
- specific impulse
- specificity
- specificker
- specific name
- specific performance
- specific power
- specific resistance
- specific thrust
- specific weight
Translations
explicit or definite
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of, or relating to a species
pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species
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special, distinctive or unique
|
intended for, or applying to a particular thing
|
being a remedy for a particular disease
|
|
being limited to a particular antibody or antigen
|
of a value divided by the mass
of a measure compared to a standard reference
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout#Translations.
Translations to be checked
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See also
Noun
specific (plural specifics)
- A distinguishing attribute or quality.
- A remedy for a specific disease or condition.
- 1968, Charles Portis, True Grit:
- 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:
- Specification
- (in the plural) The details; particulars.
Derived terms
Further reading
- specific in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
- specific in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
- specific at OneLook Dictionary Search
Romanian
Etymology
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [speˈt͡ʃi.fik]
Adjective
specific m or n (feminine singular specifică, masculine plural specifici, feminine and neuter plural specifice)
Declension
declension of specific
singular | plural | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
masculine | neuter | feminine | masculine | neuter | feminine | ||
nominative/ accusative |
indefinite | specific | specifică | specifici | specifice | ||
definite | specificul | specifica | specificii | specificele | |||
genitive/ dative |
indefinite | specific | specifice | specifici | specifice | ||
definite | specificului | specificei | specificilor | specificelor |
Antonyms
- nespecific
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