particularistic
Americanadjective
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reflecting or adhering to a political principle of leaving each member state of a federation or empire free to retain its laws and promote its own interests.
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showing exclusive attention or devotion to one's own particular interests, party, academic specialty, etc.
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Theology. reflecting or adhering to the belief that God chooses particular individuals, nations, etc., and not others.
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Philosophy. reflecting or adhering to the belief in the importance of particulars over universals.
Other Word Forms
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
During Japan’s occupation of Southeast Asia in World War II, its troops went from being hailed as liberators to facing open revolt across the region after they failed to propagate their similarly particularistic culture.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2018
More important is it that both in early Christianity and in early Bahaism we find a conspicuous personage who succeeds in disengaging the faith from its particularistic envelope.
From The Reconciliation of Races and Religions by Thomas Kelly Cheyne
The national genius of all other peoples of antiquity was narrowly particularistic.
From The Renascence of Hebrew Literature (1743-1885) by Nahum Slouschz
After the first flush of victory, when the unity of the Israelitish people had been weakened by the particularistic efforts of several of the tribes, the spiritual bonds confining the nation began to relax.
From Jewish History : an essay in the philosophy of history by S. M. (Simon Markovich) Dubnow
It was not by any means even a good example of Western particularistic feeling.
From The Winning of the West, Volume 4 Louisiana and the Northwest, 1791-1807 by Theodore Roosevelt
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.