noun
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a petty formal point arising from a strict interpretation of rules, etc
the case was dismissed on a technicality
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the state or quality of being technical
-
technical methods and vocabulary
Other Word Forms
- hypertechnicality noun
- overtechnicality noun
Etymology
Origin of technicality
Explanation
A technicality is a trivial or very small detail. You might consider your scuffed, unpolished shoes to be an unimportant technicality when you're dressing for a job interview. You can use the noun technicality for any small point or detail, but it's most likely to come up in the context of a court trial or a conversation with an attorney. A legal technicality is a small but ultimately important detail of the law. For example, a robbery suspect might have his trial dismissed on a legal technicality if the arresting police officer neglected to show him a search warrant before searching his house.
Vocabulary lists containing technicality
Guts
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It's Trevor Noah: Born a Crime
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Just Mercy
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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 way he saw it, the Swedes were trying to win by technicality instead of skill on the ice.
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 15, 2026
He was relased from detention weeks later on a technicality.
From BBC • May 26, 2025
Chiles was also awarded her first individual Olympic medal, a bronze in the floor exercise, in Paris but it was taken away because of a technicality.
From Los Angeles Times • May 14, 2025
Although a technicality kept "Wicked"'s music from receiving recognition in the way it deserved on Oscar night, it doesn't strip Erivo, Grande and even Bailey's originality in their star-making performances.
From Salon • Mar. 2, 2025
At the very last second, just as Charles was nearing victory, the batty billionaire disqualified him on a trumped-up technicality.
From "Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics" by Chris Grabenstein
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.
