specific

English

Alternative forms

• specifick (obsolete)

Etymology

From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus ‎(“specific, particular”), from Latin speciēs ‎(“kind”) + faciō ‎(“make”).

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA^(key): /spəˈsɪf.ɪk/, /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Hyphenation: spe‧cif‧ic
• Rhymes: -ɪfɪk

Adjective

specific ‎(comparative more specific, superlative most specific)

1. explicit or definite
2. (sciences) Pertaining to a species.
   • 2008, Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Oxford 2009, p. 3:

     Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.

3. (taxonomy) pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species
4. special, distinctive or unique
5. intended for, or applying to a particular thing
6. being a remedy for a particular disease

   Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.

   • Coleridge

     In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science.

7. (immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen
8. (physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)
9. (physics) 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)
10. (physics) 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)

Antonyms

Antonyms of specific

• all-purpose
• broad
• general

• general-purpose
• generic
• gross

• nonspecific
• overall
• pandemic

• universal
• unspecific
• widespread

Hyponyms

Hyponyms of specific

• Apple-specific
• application-specific
• company-specific
• conspecific
• culture-specific

• database-specific
• domain-specific
• infraspecific
• interspecific
• intraspecific

• Linux-specific
• Microsoft-specific
• non-specific
• nonspecific
• platform-specific

• prostate-specific
• species-specific
• store-specific
• Unix-specific
• Windows-specific

Derived terms

Terms derived from specific

• flight-specific

• spaceflight-specific

• specificity

• specificker

Related terms

Related terms

• specific charge
• specific energy
• specific epithet

• specific fuel consumption
• specific gravity
• specific heat

• specific impulse
• specific name
• specific performance

• specific power
• specific resistance
• specific thrust

Translations

explicit or definite

• Catalan: específic m
• Czech: konkrétní (cs)
• Esperanto: specifa
• Estonian: kindel (et)
• Finnish: erityinen (fi)

• Greek: συγκεκριμένος (el) ‎(synkekriménos)
• Latin: specialis m, f
• Portuguese: específico (pt)
• Romanian: specific (ro)
• Russian: я́вный (ru) ‎(jávnyj) (obvious, explicit), конкре́тный (ru) ‎(konkrétnyj) (concrete), специфи́ческий (ru) ‎(specifíčeskij)
• Sinhalese: නිශ්චිත ‎(niścita)
• Spanish: específico
• Welsh: penodol (cy)

of, or relating to a species

• Finnish: laji- (fi), lajityyppinen
• Portuguese: específico (pt)

• Russian: видово́й (ru) ‎(vidovój)

pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species

• Finnish: laji- (fi)

• Portuguese: específico (pt)

special, distinctive or unique

• Czech: specifický (cs)
• Estonian: eriline (et)

• Finnish: erityinen (fi)
• Greek: ειδικός (el) ‎(eidikós)
• Russian: осо́бенный (ru) ‎(osóbennyj), осо́бый (ru) ‎(osóbyj), конкре́тный (ru) ‎(konkrétnyj)

intended for, or applying to a particular thing

• Czech: specifický (cs)
• Estonian: omane

• Finnish: erityinen (fi), erikois- (fi)
• Greek: ειδικός (el) ‎(eidikós), εξειδικευμένος (el) ‎(exeidikevménos)
• Portuguese: específico (pt)
• Russian: специа́льный (ru) ‎(speciálʹnyj)

being a remedy for a particular disease

• Finnish: spesifinen (fi)
• Portuguese: específico (pt)

• Spanish: específico

being limited to a particular antibody or antigen

• Finnish: spesifinen (fi)

of a value divided by the mass

• Czech: specifický (cs)
• Estonian: eri-

• Finnish: ominais- (fi)
• Georgian: კუთრი ‎(ḳutri)
• Russian: специфи́ческий (ru) ‎(specifíčeskij)

of a measure compared to a standard reference

• Czech: relativní

• Finnish: ominais- (fi)

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.

Translations to be checked

• Arabic: ^{(please verify)} مُعَيِّن ‎(muʿayyin)
• Catalan: ^{(please verify)} específic
• Mandarin: ^{(please verify)} 特定的 (zh) ‎(tèdìng de)
• Dutch: ^{(please verify)} specifiek (nl)
• French: ^{(please verify)} spécifique (fr)
• Galician: ^{(please verify)} específico m
• German: ^{(please verify)} spezifisch (de)

• Hungarian: ^{(please verify)} sajátos (hu), ^{(please verify)} meghatározott (hu)
• Irish: ^{(please verify)} sonrach
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} specifico (it)
• Japanese: ^{(please verify)} 特殊 (ja) ‎(とくしゅ, tokushu)
• Korean: ^{(please verify)} 특정한 ‎(teukjeonghan)
• Swedish: ^{(please verify)} specifik (sv)

See also

• generic

Noun

specific ‎(plural specifics)

1. A distinguishing attribute or quality.
2. A specific remedy.
   • 1968, Charles Portis, True Grit:

     I had no unreasonable fear of bats, […] yet I knew them too for carriers of the dread “Hydrophobia,” for which there was no specific.

3. Specification
4. (in the plural) The details; particulars.

Derived terms

• specificker

External links

• specific in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
• specific in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
• specific at OneLook Dictionary Search

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Romanian

Etymology

French spécifique

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [speˈt͡ʃi.fik]

Adjective

specific m, n ‎(feminine singular specifică, masculine plural specifici, feminine and neuter plural specifice)

1. specific

Declension

declension of specific

		singular			plural
		masculine	neuter	feminine	masculine	neuter	feminine
nominative/ accusative	indefinite	specific		specifică	specifici	specifice
	definite	specificul		specifica	specificii	specificele
genitive/ dative	indefinite	specific		specifice	specifici	specifice
	definite	specificului		specificei	specificilor	specificelor

Antonyms

• nespecific