technicalities

Noun

technicality (countable and uncountable, plural technicalities)

1. The quality or state of being technical.
   • At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   technicalness

2. That which is technical, or peculiar to any trade, profession, sect, or the like.
   • the technicalities of the sect
3. A minor detail, rule, law, etc., seemingly insignificant to a non-specialist but which has significant consequences in larger matters.
   • These are some of the "Reversible Errors" on which a new trial can be had and are often spoken of by misinformed business men as "technicalities," as when they say a certain gangster "got off on a technicality" or "got a new trial on a technicality."1948, David K. Breed, The Trial of Christ from Legal and Scriptural Viewpoint, Library of Alexandria, →ISBN, page 8