ENGLISH DICTIONARY

Specific

Definition, Meaning & Examples

Pronunciation /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/ · Part of speech adjective

Quick meaning: Specific is an adjective meaning Explicit or definite.

Meaning

Explicit or definite.

More Meanings

  1. (bioscience, taxonomy) Pertaining to a species, as a taxon or taxa at the rank of species.
  2. (sometimes in combination) Special, distinctive or unique.
  3. intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
  4. Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.
  5. Being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms
  6. (immunology) Limited to a particular antibody or antigen.
  7. (physics) Of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy).

Example Sentences

Holonyms: generic, familial
Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific
a highly specific test specific and nonspecific symptoms

Word Forms

Synonyms for specific

Depending on context, synonyms include express, monosemous, unambiguous, singular, peculiar, concrete.

Antonyms for specific

Common opposites include unspecific, nonspecific, broad, general, generic, universal.

Related Words

Related dictionary entries include specified, special, particular, circumstantial, unique, limited.

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Sources & Attribution

FreeDictionaryAPI.com / Wiktionary · Original source · CC BY-SA 4.0

Dictionary data is provided by FreeDictionaryAPI.com and sourced from Wiktionary under its stated license.