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specificity

spe·ci·fi·city

UK/spɛsɪˈfɪsɪti/ US/ˌspɛsʌˈfɪsʌti/ fairly common

noun

1.

the quality of being specific rather than general

  • “add a desirable note of specificity to the discussion”
  • “the specificity of the symptoms of the disease”
2.

the quality of being specific to a particular organism

  • “host specificity of a parasite”

Origin

From specific + -ity, perhaps modelled after French spécificité. First attested in 1829.

Related words

Broader terms

WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.