Open main menu
Wiktionary

specific

Contents

EnglishEdit

Alternative formsEdit

EtymologyEdit

From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus (“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + faciō (“make”).

PronunciationEdit

  • (US, UK) IPA(key): /spəˈsɪf.ɪk/, /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
  • Audio (US)
    		(file)
  • Hyphenation: spe‧cif‧ic
  • Rhymes: -ɪfɪk

AdjectiveEdit

specific (comparative more specific, superlative most specific)

  1. explicit or definite
  2. (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.
  3. (taxonomy) pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species
  4. special, distinctive or unique
  5. intended for, or applying to, a particular thing
  6. 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.
  7. (immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen
  8. (physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)
  9. (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)
  10. (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)

SynonymsEdit

AntonymsEdit

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}} to add them to the appropriate sense(s).

HyponymsEdit

The terms below need to be checked and allocated to the definitions (senses) of the headword above. Each term should appear in the sense for which it is appropriate. Use the templates {{syn|en|...}} or {{ant|en|...}} to add them to the appropriate sense(s).

Derived termsEdit

TranslationsEdit

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

See alsoEdit

NounEdit

specific (plural specifics)

  1. A distinguishing attribute or quality.
  2. 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.
  3. Specification
  4. (in the plural) The details; particulars.

Derived termsEdit

Further readingEdit

RomanianEdit

EtymologyEdit

French spécifique

PronunciationEdit

AdjectiveEdit

specific m or n (feminine singular specifică, masculine plural specifici, feminine and neuter plural specifice)

  1. specific

DeclensionEdit

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

AntonymsEdit

Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=specific&oldid=52320432"