English Explanatory Dictionary

specificity

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. The state of being specific rather than general.
  2. The extent to which a characteristic is specific to a given person, place, or thing; thus:
  3. The probability, in a binary classification test, of a true negative being correctly identified.
  4. The extent to which a particular diagnostic test is specific for, or a symptom or sign is specific to, a given condition.

Pronunciation

/spɛsɪˈfɪsɪti/ LL-Q1860 (eng)-Wodencafe-specificity.wav

Word forms

specificity specificities

Etymology

From specific + -ity, perhaps modelled after French spécificité. First attested in 1829.

Synonyms

specificness individuality particularity peculiarity propriety singularity specialty specificity

Antonyms

nonspecificity genericity

Derived words

allospecificity aspecificity bispecificity cardiospecificity chemospecificity conspecificity diastereospecificity enantiospecificity heterospecificity heterosubspecificity homospecificity hyperspecificity immunospecificity interspecificity intraspecificity isospecificity monospecificity multispecificity neospecificity neurospecificity nonspecificity organospecificity overspecificity paraspecificity phosphospecificity polyspecificity regiospecificity serospecificity stereospecificity subspecificity transspecificity ultraspecificity unspecificity xenospecificity
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