Specific
[spə'sɪfɪk] or [spɪ'sɪfɪk]
Definition
(noun.) a medicine that has a mitigating effect on a specific disease; 'quinine is a specific for malaria'.
(adj.) stated explicitly or in detail; 'needed a specific amount' .
(adj.) (sometimes followed by `to') applying to or characterized by or distinguishing something particular or special or unique; 'rules with specific application'; 'demands specific to the job'; 'a specific and detailed account of the accident' .
(adj.) being or affecting a disease produced by a particular microorganism or condition; used also of stains or dyes used in making microscope slides; 'quinine is highly specific for malaria'; 'a specific remedy'; 'a specific stain is one having a specific affinity for particular structural elements' .
(adj.) relating to or distinguishing or constituting a taxonomic species; 'specific characters' .
Checked by Jennie--From WordNet
Definition
(a.) Of or pertaining to a species; characterizing or constituting a species; possessing the peculiar property or properties of a thing which constitute its species, and distinguish it from other things; as, the specific form of an animal or a plant; the specific qualities of a drug; the specific distinction between virtue and vice.
(a.) Specifying; definite, or making definite; limited; precise; discriminating; as, a specific statement.
(a.) Exerting a peculiar influence over any part of the body; preventing or curing disease by a peculiar adaption, and not on general principles; as, quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
(n.) A specific remedy. See Specific, a., 3.
(a.) Anything having peculiar adaption to the purpose to which it is applied.
Editor: Martin
Synonyms and Synonymous
a. [1]. Peculiar, particular, especial, characteristic.[2]. Definite, precise, specified.
n. [1]. Special medicine, sovereign remedy, infallible remedy.[2]. Unfailing agent, sure means.
Checked by Beth
Examples
- This statement needs to be rendered more specific by connecting it with the materials of school instruction, the studies which make up the curriculum. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- They fulfill their destiny in issuing, later on, into specific and perceptible acts. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- Each is the specific good which it is, and that is all that can be said. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- But general also means abstract, or detached from all specific context. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It is in vain you say to them, Dear Madam, I took Podgers' specific at your orders last year, and believe in it. William Makepeace Thackeray. Vanity Fair.
- We find, in short, such evidence of the slow and scarcely sensible mutations of specific forms, as we have the right to expect. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- What the commission saw and described were the particular forms which a great human impulse had assumed at a specific date in a certain city. Walter Lippmann. A Preface to Politics.
- Just as we come to know them better, intermediate forms flow in, and doubts as to specific limits augment. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- They are inevitable as the spirit and quality of an activity having specific consequences, not as forming an isolated realm of inner consciousness. John Dewey. Democracy and Education.
- It sows evenly, and sows a specific quantity. William Henry Doolittle. Inventions in the Century.
- It is called olefiant gas, and contains equal measures of hydrogen gas and carbon vapour; its specific gravity is 0. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- From first to last the fever assumed no specific form. Wilkie Collins. The Moonstone.
- It was evident that he had been summoned rather for the moral support of the stricken ladies than because of any specific aid that he could render. Edith Wharton. The Age of Innocence.
- The specific gravity of such gas is about one-half that of atmospheric air, and it is eight times heavier than pure hydrogen. Frederick C. Bakewell. Great Facts.
- Both specific heat and the heat of vaporization vary with the liquid used. Bertha M. Clark. General Science.
Checked by Bernadette