Other Word Forms
- nonspecificity noun
Etymology
Origin of specificity
Explanation
Specificity is the goal of anyone who wants to know — or give — every single detail. If your friend's story is too vague, ask for specificity when things aren't clear. Specificity may look hard to pronounce, but if you remember that the first syllable rhymes with guess, the rest will flow easily: "spes-uh-FIS-uh-tee." Now try specificus, the Latin word at the root of specificity and the word species. Those words may not seem related — until you think about the classification of living things: kingdom, phylum, class, order, family, genus, species. Species is the most specific in the hierarchy!
Vocabulary lists containing specificity
What If It's Us
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Top Ten Most Relevant Words from Republican Presidential Candidates' Debate - Nov. 10, 2015
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United States v. Nixon (1974)
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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.
The lack of specificity leaves “open the possibility that several legitimate commercial decisions could be interpreted” as threatening Chinese supply chains, the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China said.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 15, 2026
"In an AI search engine, the average length is 40 to 60 words. So, you're talking about an order of magnitude of specificity change."
From BBC • Apr. 6, 2026
What her books lack in character diversity, they make up for in specificity.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2026
Their AI model demonstrated very high sensitivity and specificity when identifying acromegaly from the hand images.
From Science Daily • Mar. 4, 2026
He envied her the specificity of her task, so unlike the elusive nature of his.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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.
