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
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technical methods and vocabulary
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
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.
See Examples For:
That’s enough to overlook the technicality that she isn’t a grandma—yet.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
“The fiduciary point is the part most people miss, and it sounds like a technicality until it’s your data,” Jeff Judge, CFP at Chesapeake Financial Planners, told MarketWatch.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 1, 2026
The classification may sound like a technicality, but it matters because hundreds of exchange-traded funds and mutual funds base their allocations on the index’s classifications.
From Barron's ● May 22, 2026
Some residents claim East Lothian Council ignored a petition with 7,000 signatures on a "technicality," while an initial consultation attracted hundreds of objections.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2026
Ms. Dale doesn’t care to hear Axel’s reasons for not writing the report based on this technicality.
From "A Bird Will Soar" by Alison Green Myers
Setting the rules is critical for federal legislation, with many things on the table, from the technicalities of how scholarship organizations operate to whether states can impose regulations more restrictive than the federal law.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
And when the technicalities of A.I. detection collide with cancel culture, it does not lead anywhere productive.
From Slate ● Apr. 17, 2026
I always knew that this was what I wanted to do, but I didn’t know the technicalities of it.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 30, 2025
The only other serious candidate, Luhaga Mpina of ACT-Wazalendo, was disqualified on technicalities.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2025
Our life turned into a courtroom drama with two lawyers constantly debating over loopholes and technicalities.
From "Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood" by Trevor Noah
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.
