specific
Syllables: spe·cif·icUK/spɪˈsɪf.ɪk//spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
specific adjective: explicit or definite.
Adjective
specific (comparative more specific, superlative most specific)
- Explicit or definite.
- 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.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...
- Synonyms:
- express
- Pertaining to a species, as a taxon or taxa at the rank of species.
- Holonyms: generic, familial
- Meronyms: infrasubspecific, infraspecific, subspecific
- Special, distinctive or unique.
- 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.2023 April 26, Rayna Skiver, “Actually Bad for Kids? Here’s What Experts Say”, in Green Matters
- Synonyms:
- singular
- intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
- Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.
- a highly specific test
- specific and nonspecific symptoms
- Being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms.
- Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
- 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.
- Limited to a particular antibody or antigen.
- Of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy).
- 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).
- 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).
Noun
specific (plural specifics)
- A distinguishing attribute or quality.
- A remedy for a specific disease or condition.
- Change of scene, and a new lover, are infallible specifics, always supposing there is no character for constancy to be supported: if I witness the violent sorrow of to-day, I impose upon to-morrow the necessity of being sorry also.1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 201
- If Burd Ellen had gone “widishins" round the church, she would, I think, have used the best homoeopathic specific against the Elf-King's power; for "to go widishins" was the chief element in elfin practices, and if mortals wished to resist or unspell elf-craft, they, too, had "to go widershins," or...1891 January 3, I. Gollancz, “Widishins”, in The Academy, London, page 14, column 3
- Specification.
- The details; particulars.
- The distinguishing part of a toponym.
- With the exception of names of pan-Canadian significance and some alternate forms approved by provincial authorities, the specific is not translated.2024 July 29, “geographical names: translation”, in Writing Tips Plus, Ottawa: Translation Bureau, retrieved 09 Nov 2024
- Antonyms:
- generic
specific meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
specific in Hindi
- विशिष्ट
specific in Tamil
- குறித்த, திட்டவட்டமான, தெளிவான, வரையறுத்துக் குறிக்கப்பட்ட, குறிப்பிட்ட, தகு மருந்து குறித்த
specific in Marathi
- specific, particular
- विशिष्ट viśiṣṭa
specific in Urdu
- خاص
More languagesFewer languages
- specific in Bengali
- বিশেষভাবে নির্দিষ্ট, প্রজাতিগত, বর্গীয়, বর্গগত
- specific in Telugu
- నిర్దిష్టం, నిర్దిష్టమైనవి
- specific in Malayalam
- ഒരിനം orinaṁ
- specific in Kannada
- ಸಿದ್ಧೌಷಧ, ತಕ್ಕ, ಸರಿಯಾದ, ಒಂದು ಬಗೆಯ
- specific in Odia
- ନିର୍ଦ୍ଦିଷ୍ଟ
- specific in Sinhala
- නිශ්චිත niścita
- specific in Nepali
- विशिष्ट
- specific in Indonesian
- spesifik
Examples of specific in a sentence
- Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.2008, Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Oxford, published 2009, page 3:
- The study of specific medicines is too much disregarded now.1830 May 23, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Constitutional and Functional Life—Hysteria—Hydro-carbonic Gas—Bitters and Tonics—Specific...
- A compound of spurge, cardamom, cinnamon of Mecca, pellitory, ginger, nettle seed is an Arab specific for sexual weakness.1961, Harry E. Wedeck, Dictionary of Aphrodisiacs, New York: The Citadel Press, page 228:
- I had no unreasonable fear of bats, […] yet I knew them too for carriers of the dread “Hydrophobia,” for which there was no specific.1968, Charles Portis, True Grit:
Synonyms of specific
Antonyms
- generic
- unspecific
- nonspecific
- broad
- general
- universal
- all-purpose
- general-purpose
- gross
- group-specific antigen
6 more antonymsFewer antonyms
Forms of specific
| Adjective | |
|---|---|
| comparative | more specific |
| superlative | most specific |
| alternative form (obsolete) | specifick |
| Noun | |
| plural | specifics |
Origin of specific
From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus (“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs (“kind”) + -ific.
Words formed from specific
- 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
Phrases with specific
- specific name
- specific risk
- specific heats
- specific names
- specific power
- specific risks
- specific phobia
- specific powers
- specific thrust
- specific volume
- specific charges
- specific phobias
23 more phrasesFewer phrases
- specific thrusts
- specific volumes
- specific activity
- specific energies
- specific epithets
- specific impulses
- specific rotation
- specific contracts
- specific densities
- specific gravities
- specific leaf area
- specific rotations
- specific humidities
- specific leaf areas
- specific resistance
- specific performance
- specific resistances
- specific gravity bottle
- specific gravity bottles
- specific heat capacities
- specific fuel consumptions
- specific language impairment
- specific language impairments
Words that rhyme with specific
- prolific
- calorific
- colorific
- hieroglyphic
- honorific
- scientific
- terrific
- -ific
- biospecific
- calcific
- dolorific
- febrific
48 more rhymesFewer rhymes
- interspecific
- morbific
- organific
- pacific
- signific
- soporific
- sudorific
- triglyphic
- trispecific
- unterrific
- vaporific
- acidific
- algific
- allospecific
- anaglyphic
- anticalcific
- antiprolific
- aspecific
- aurific
- bioscientific
- bispecific
- carbonific
- chylific
- classific
- coelanaglyphic
- conspecific
- cornific
- cospecific
- crapperific
- damnific
- deific
- diaglyphic
- ditriglyphic
- frigorific
- geoglyphic
- grandific
- hipsterific
- horrific
- humilific
- inspecific
- lactific
- lapidific
- lithoglyphic
- lucific
- lucrific
- mirific
- nanospecific
- omnific
Questions about specific
- What does specific mean?
- Specific means explicit or definite.
- What is specific in Hindi?
- Specific in Hindi is विशिष्ट. See Specific meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use specific in a sentence?
- Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.
- What part of speech is specific?
- Specific can be an adjective or a noun.
- How do you pronounce specific?
- Specific is pronounced /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/ (UK).
Words near specific in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: specific (page history and authors); specific (Hindi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); specific (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); विशिष्ट (Marathi) (page history and authors); specific (Urdu Wiktionary) (page history and authors); specific (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); specific (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); specific (Kannada Wiktionary) (page history and authors); specific (Odia, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); specific (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-us-specific.ogg.
Cite this entry: “specific.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/specific. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.