Word.ws English Dictionary

specifies

specifies is the third-person singular simple present indicative of specify.

Meaning of specify

Verb

specify (third-person singular simple present specifies, present participle specifying, simple past and past participle specified)

  1. (transitive) To state explicitly, or in detail, or as a condition.
    • I was nevere somouned, ne never hadde tydynges of this matier but by seyd lettres and other fleying tales that I heve herd sithen, ne nevere hadde to do more with the seyd John Wortes than is specified in the seyd instruccion.1425 November 5, William Paston, edited by James Gairdner, Paston Letters, new edition, volume I, London: Edward Arber, published 1872, page 20
    Synonyms:
    name
  2. (transitive) To include in a specification.
    • It seems to me that whoever at the Department of Transport or the train operating companies, or both, is specifying the standard of seats these days has taken leave of their senses and opted for cheapness over comfort.2023 July 26, Pip Dunn, “Merseyrail '777s' are OK for passengers”, in RAIL, number 988, page 60
  3. (transitive) To bring about a specific result.
  4. (intransitive, obsolete) To speak explicitly or in detail (often used with of).
    • Forthermar o þis lecheri / Agh i þe noght to specifie[…]c. 1300, Richard Morris, editor, Cursor Mundi [Runner of the World], volume I (in Middle English), London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., published 1893, lines 27958–9, page 1548

Questions about specifies

What is specifies the third-person singular simple present indicative of?
Specifies is the third-person singular simple present indicative of specify.

Words near specifies in the dictionary

  1. specifics
  2. specified
  3. specifiedness
  4. specifier
  5. specifiers
  6. specifies
  7. specifism
  8. specifist
  9. specifists
  10. specifity
  11. specify

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: specifies (page history and authors); specify (page history and authors). 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.

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Cite this entry: “specifies.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/specifies. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.