specific
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: rhymes: -ɪfɪk
ipa: /spəˈsɪf.ɪk/
ipa: /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈspɛsɨfɪk/
note: Indic
ipa: /spɪsɨˈfɪk/
ipa: /spɛkˈsi.fɪk/
Forms: form: more specific
form: most specific
form: specifick
Etymology: From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus (“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + -ific.
Senses: examples: text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Explicit or definite.
examples: text: Holonyms: generic, familial
text: Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific
text: Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.
ref: 2008, Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Oxford, published 2009, page 3:
topics: biology
natural-sciences
taxonomy
glosses: Pertaining to a species, as a taxon or taxa at the rank of species.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 2023 April 26, Rayna Skiver, “Actually Bad for Kids? Here’s What Experts Say”, in Green Matters:
glosses: Special, distinctive or unique.
glosses: intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
examples: text: a highly specific test    specific and nonspecific symptoms
glosses: Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.
examples: text: Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
text: 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.
text: 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.
ref: 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:
glosses: Being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms
topics: immunology
medicine
sciences
glosses: Limited to a particular antibody or antigen.
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: Of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy).
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: 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)
topics: natural-sciences
physical-sciences
physics
glosses: 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: sense: explicit
word: express
word: monosemous
word: unambiguous
word: explicit
sense: distinctive or unique
word: singular
word: unique
sense: intended for a particular thing
word: peculiar
word: singular
word: concrete
word: discrete
word: individual
word: particular
word: proper
word: specific
Hyponyms: application-specific
array-specific
browser-specific
client-specific
CLR-specific
company-specific
conspecific
container-specific
culture-specific
database-specific
discipline-specific
domain-specific
Eclipse-specific
flight-specific
gender-specific
HTTP-specific
infraspecific
interspecific
intraspecific
JSON-specific
MySQL-specific
osmospecific
OS-specific
platform-specific
problem-specific
program-specific
prostate-specific
recording-specific
serotonin-specific
server-specific
spaceflight-specific
species-specific
store-specific
task-specific
topic-specific
Derived terms: allospecific
antiphosphospecific
aspecific
biospecific
bispecific
cardiospecific
chemospecific
chirospecific
cospecific
domain-specific language
donor-specific antibody
ecospecific
enantiospecific
ethnospecific
extraspecific
gender-specific
geospecific
haplospecific
hepatospecific
heterospecific
homospecific
hyperspecific
idiospecific
immunospecific
inspecific
isospecific
JVM-specific
nanospecific
neurospecific
nothospecific
organospecific
osteospecific
overspecific
panspecific
paraspecific
phosphospecific
plurispecific
polyspecific
prespecific
prostate-specific antigen
quadrispecific
regiospecific
semispecific
serospecific
serotonin-specific reuptake inhibitor
specifical
specifically
specificate
specific charge
specific contract
specific density
specific energy
specific epithet
specific fuel consumption
specific gravity
specific heat
specific heat capacity
specific humidity
specific impulse
specificity
specificize
specificker
specific language impairment
specific leaf area
specific name
specificness
specific performance
specific phobia
specific power
specific resistance
specific risk
specific rotation
specific thrust
specific volume
specific weight
stereospecific
superspecific
supraspecific
thermospecific
transspecific
trispecific
ultraspecific
underspecific
unispecific
xenospecific
Related terms: generic