specimen

American  

[spes-uh-muhn] / ˈspɛs ə mən /

noun

1. a part or an individual taken as exemplifying a whole mass or number; a typical animal, plant, mineral, part, etc.

   Synonyms:

   pattern, model, type

2. (in medicine, microbiology, etc.) a sample of a substance or material for examination or study.

   a urine specimen; a tissue specimen.

3. a particular or peculiar kind of person.

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specimen British  

/ ˈspɛsɪmɪn /

noun

1. 1. an individual, object, or part regarded as typical of the group or class to which it belongs

   2. ( as modifier )

      a specimen signature

      a specimen page

2. med a sample of tissue, blood, urine, etc, taken for diagnostic examination or evaluation

3. the whole or a part of an organism, plant, rock, etc, collected and preserved as an example of its class, species, etc

4. informal a person

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Related Words

See example.

Etymology

Origin of specimen

1600–10; < Latin: mark, example, indication, sign, equivalent to speci-, stem of specere to look, regard + -men noun suffix denoting result or means

Example Sentences

Together, these specimens span roughly 50,000 years, from the Pleistocene to the present.

From Science Daily

Scientists at the University of Kansas Biodiversity Institute and Natural History Museum recently uncovered a mistake that dates back decades involving a poison frog specimen from Peru.

From Science Daily

Cardillo said he and his colleagues use generative AI to review specimens, but that they do so only as a second pair of eyes after already coming up with their own diagnoses.

From The Wall Street Journal

Their findings suggest the specimen may not belong to any known human ancestor species and could represent an entirely new one.

From Science Daily

First, they compared multiple traits in these bones with those of both living species and fossil specimens.

From Science Daily

Related Words

• copy
• exhibit
• variety