technical
English
Etymology
Latin technicus, from Ancient Greek τέχνη (“skill”)
Pronunciation
Adjective
technical (comparative more technical, superlative most technical)
- Of or pertaining to the useful or mechanic arts, or to any academic, legal, science, engineering, business, or the like terminology with specific and precise meaning or (frequently, as a degree of distinction) shades of meaning; specially appropriate to any art, science or engineering field, or business; as, the words of an indictment must be technical.
- 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 4, Well Tackled![1]:
- Technical terms like ferrite, perlite, graphite, and hardenite were bandied to and fro, and when Paget glibly brought out such a rare exotic as ferro-molybdenum, Benson forgot that he was a master ship-builder, […]
- 1928, Lawrence R. Bourne, chapter 4, Well Tackled![1]:
- (slang) A secretarial way of saying "specific".
- (of a person) This word needs a definition. Please help out and add a definition, then remove the text
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Usage notes
- Said of documents, subjects, writers, terms, issues, etc.
Related terms
Derived terms
terms derived from technical (adjective)
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Translations
pertaining to the useful or mechanic arts
Noun
technical (plural technicals)
- A pickup truck with a gun mounted on it.
- 2007 January 2, Jeffrey Gettleman, “After 15 Years, Someone’s in Charge in Somalia, if Barely”, New York Times:
- “Individuals or groups of people who have trucks mounted with antiaircraft guns, known as ‘technicals,’ should bring those battlewagons to Mogadishu’s old port,” he said.
- 2007 January 2, Jeffrey Gettleman, “After 15 Years, Someone’s in Charge in Somalia, if Barely”, New York Times:
- (basketball) A technical foul: a violation of sportsmanlike conduct, not involving physical contact.
References
- “technical” in the The New Oxford American Dictionary, Second Edition, Oxford University Press, 2005
- "technical" in WordNet 3.0, Princeton University, 2006.
