particularity
Meanings
- A particular thing.
- A distinctive characteristic or quality; a peculiarity.
- A particular case or matter.
- The condition of being particular rather than general or universal; specificity.
- The doctrine of the incarnation of God as Jesus occurring at a particular place and time.
- Synonym of particularism (“the principle that only certain people are chosen by God for salvation”).
- Attention to detail; fastidiousness.
- The condition of being special; peculiarity, specialness.
- The condition of being special in an unexpected way; oddness, strangeness; (countable) an instance of this.
- The paying of particular close attention to someone; (countable) an instance of this.
Pronunciation
Word forms
Etymology
From Middle French particularité (“part of a whole; something particular, particularity”) (modern French particularité), and from its etymon Late Latin particularitas (“fact or quality of being particular; something particular, particularity”), from Latin particulāris (“particular; partial”) + -tās (suffix forming feminine abstract nouns indicating a state of being). Particulāris is derived from particula (“particle, small part”) (from pars (“a part, piece, portion, share”) (probably ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *perh₃- (“to provide, produce, beget”)) + -cula (diminutive suffix)) + -āris (suffix denoting a relationship, forming adjectives). The English word is analysable as particular + -ity (suffix forming nouns from adjectives, referring to the properties, qualities, or states of what is denoted by the adjectives).