Standard Lemma guide
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
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noun
The state or quality of being special.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable, usually
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
the quality of being particular and pertaining to a specific case or instance
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Synonyms: particularity
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: quality
Narrower terms: specificity
noun
a distinguishing trait
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Synonyms: peculiarity, specialty, speciality, distinctiveness
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: individuality, individualism, individuation
Narrower terms: idiosyncrasy, foible, mannerism
History
Etymology tree English special Proto-Germanic *-inōną Proto-Indo-European *-dyé- Proto-Germanic *-atjaną Proto-Indo-European *-tus Proto-Germanic *-þuz Proto-Germanic *-assuz Proto-Germanic *-inassuz Proto-West Germanic *-nassī Old English -nes Middle English -nesse English -ness English specialness From special + -ness.
Across languages
5 source translations are retained for this English entry.
