specific
/spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
Word Rarity
Common
Frequency: Zipf frequency 5.03 in modern English
17
Scrabble Score
8
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
adj
Special, distinctive or unique.
adj
intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
adj
Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.
adj
Being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms.
adj
Limited to a particular antibody or antigen.
Example Sentences
- "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."
- "Holonyms: generic, familial"
- "Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific"
- "Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name."
- "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."
- "a highly specific test"
Etymology
From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus (“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + -ific.
Origin
- Source language: Old French
Word Breakdown
- Root: specifique, specificus, speciēs
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
- British English: /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
Inflected Forms
more specific (comparative)
most specific (superlative)
specifick (alternative, obsolete)
specifics (plural)