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Certain vs Particular - What's the difference?

certain | particular |

In obsolete terms the difference between certain and particular

is that certain is determined; resolved while particular is a person's own individual case.

As adjectives the difference between certain and particular

is that certain is sure, positive, not doubting while particular is pertaining only to a part of something; partial.

As a determiner certain

is having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.

As a noun particular is

a small individual part of something larger; a detail, a point.

certain

English

Adjective

(wikipedia certain) (en adjective)
  • Sure, positive, not doubting.
    • I was certain of my decision.
  • (obsolete) Determined; resolved.
  • * Milton
    • However, I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom.
  • Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
  • * Bible, Dan. ii. 45
    • The dream is certain , and the interpretation thereof sure.
  • Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
    • Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.
  • * Dryden
    • Virtue that directs our ways / Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
  • * Shakespeare
    • Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
  • Unfailing; infallible.
  • * Mead
    • I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
  • Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
  • * Bible, Ex. xvi. 4
    • The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.
  • Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons.
  • * Bible, Luke v. 12
    • It came to pass when he was in a certain city.
  • * Macaulay
    • About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace and decorum.

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * (not doubting) uncertain * (sure to happen) impossible, incidental

    Derived terms

    * certainly

    Related terms

    * certainty

    Determiner

    (en determiner)
  • Having been determined but unspecified. The quality of some particular subject or object which is known by the speaker to have been specifically singled out among similar entities of its class.
  • * Bible, Acts xxiii. 12
    • Certain of the Jews banded together.
  • * , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
    • , chapter=3 citation , passage=One saint's day in mid-term a certain newly appointed suffragan-bishop came to the school chapel, and there preached on “The Inner Life.”}}

    Statistics

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    External links

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    Anagrams

    * * 1000 English basic words ----

    particular

    English

    Alternative forms

    * perticular (obsolete)

    Adjective

    (-)
  • (obsolete) Pertaining only to a part of something; partial.
  • Specific; discrete; concrete.
    • I couldn't find the particular model you asked for, but I hope this one will do.
    We knew it was named after John Smith, but nobody knows which particular John Smith.
  • * Shakespeare
    • [Make] each particular hair to stand an end, / Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.
  • Specialised; characteristic of a specific person or thing.
    • I don't appreciate your particular brand of cynicism.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • wheresoever one plant draweth such a particular juice out of the earth
  • (obsolete) Known only to an individual person or group; confidential.
  • * 1623 , William Shakespeare, King Lear , V.1:
    • or these domesticke and particular broiles, Are not the question heere.
  • Distinguished in some way; special (often in negative constructions).
    • My five favorite places are, in no particular order, New York, Chicago, Paris, San Francisco and London.
    I didn't have any particular interest in the book.
    He brought no particular news.
    She was the particular belle of the party.
  • (comparable) Of a person, concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; precise; fastidious.
    • He is very particular about his food and if it isn't cooked to perfection he will send it back.
  • Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise.
    • a full and particular account of an accident
  • (legal) Containing a part only; limited.
    • a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder
  • (legal) Holding a particular estate.
    • a particular tenant
    (Blackstone)
  • (logic) Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject.
    • a particular proposition, opposed to "universal", e.g. (particular affirmative) "Some men are wise"; (particular negative) "Some men are not wise".

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * general

    Derived terms

    * antiparticularism * antiparticularist * in particular * particular average * particular Church * particular integral * particularism * particularize * particularly * particularity

    Related terms

    * particulars (certain individuals - not used in singular)

    External links

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small individual part of something larger; a detail, a point.
  • (obsolete) A person's own individual case.
  • *, II.16:
  • *:Since philosophy could never find any way for tranquillity that might be generally good, let every man in his particular seeke for it.
  • * Whole Duty of Man
    • temporal blessings, whether such as concern the publicor such as concern our particular
  • *

    • Related terms

    * universal * for one's particular

    Statistics

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