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Specific vs Apposite - What's the difference?

specific | apposite |

As adjectives the difference between specific and apposite

is that specific is explicit or definite while apposite is appropriate, relevant, well-suited; fit.

As nouns the difference between specific and apposite

is that specific is a distinguishing attribute or quality while apposite is (rare) something that is.

specific

English

Alternative forms

* specifick (obsolete)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • explicit or definite
  • (sciences) Pertaining to a species.
  • *2008 , (Richard Dawkins), The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing , Oxford 2009, p. 3:
  • *:Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.
  • (taxonomy) pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species
  • special, distinctive or unique
  • intended for, or applying to a particular thing
  • being a remedy for a particular disease
  • Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
  • * Coleridge
  • In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science.
  • (immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen
  • (physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)
  • (physics) similarly referring to a value divided by any measure which acts to standardize it (e.g. thrust specific fuel consumption, referring to fuel consumption divided by thrust)
  • (physics) a measure compared with a standard reference value by division, to produce a ratio without unit or dimension (e.g. specific refractive index is a pure number, and is relative to that of air)
  • Antonyms

    * all-purpose * broad * general * general-purpose * generic * gross * nonspecific * overall * pandemic * universal * unspecific * widespread

    Derived terms

    * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

    See also

    * generic

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A distinguishing attribute or quality.
  • Something particularly adapted for a particular use, as a remedy for a particular disorder
  • Specification
  • (in the plural) The details; particulars.
  • Derived terms

    *

    apposite

    English

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Appropriate, relevant, well-suited; fit.
  • * c.1833-1856 , Andrew Carrick, John Addington Symonds (editors), Medical Topography of Bristol'', in '' ,
  • Medical Topography would be the most apposite title, since it comprehends the principal objects of investigation;.
  • *
  • Flora, however, received the remark as if it had been of a most apposite and agreeable nature; approvingly observing aloud that Mr F.’s Aunt had a great deal of spirit.
  • * 1919 , , Chapter 15: The Expanding Vocabulary,
  • Rough-neck'' is a capital word; it is more apposite and savory than the English ''navvy , and it is over-whelmingly more American.
  • Positioned at rest in respect to another, be it side-to-side, front-to-front, back-to-back, or even three-dimensionally: in apposition.
  • * 1971 , University of London. School of Oriental and African Studies, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London , Volume 34, page 262,
  • In other words, they are used to name, rather than to describe. They are apposite nouns and not adjectives.
  • Related, homologous.
  • * 2000 , David Skeele, "All That Monarchs Do": The Obscured Stages of Authority in Pericles'', in ''Pericles: Critical Essays ,
  • If the shift in theatrical setting and the shift in dramaturgy are at all related, they are apposite developments, independent yet homologous signs of a changing political and cultural climate.

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • (rare) Something that is
  • * {{quote-book, year=1901, author=Charles L. Marson, title=Hugh, Bishop of Lincoln, chapter=, edition= citation
  • , passage=Hugh gave the boy apples or other small apposites

    References

    See also

    * opposite ----