Nicety vs Quiddity - What's the difference?
nicety | quiddity |
A small detail or distinction.
* John Locke
Subtlety or precision of use.
:A rocket-propelled grenade doesn't have the nicety of a sniper round, but you must admit its effectiveness.
(philosophy) The essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.
* 1822 , October, (Charles Lamb), The Old Actors'', published in ''London Magazine , section on “Mr. Munden” (
* 1962 , (Vladimir Nabokov), Pale Fire :
* 1978 , (Lawrence Durrell), Livia'', Faber & Faber 1992 (''Avignon Quintet ), p. 352:
(legal) A trifle; a nicety or quibble.
An eccentricity; an odd feature.
As nouns the difference between nicety and quiddity
is that nicety is a small detail or distinction while quiddity is (philosophy) the essence or inherent nature of a person or thing.nicety
English
Noun
(niceties)- We met the new captain while we were taking enemy fire and were unable to observe the niceties of formal introductions.
- the fineness and niceties of words
Derived terms
* to a nicetyExternal links
* * *quiddity
English
(wikipedia quiddity)Noun
(quiddities)ebook):
- A tub of butter, contemplated by him, amounts to a Platonic idea. He understands a leg of mutton in its quiddity . He stands wondering, amid the commonplace materials of life, like primæval man, with the sun and stars about him.
- My vision reeked with truth. It had the tone,
- The quiddity and quaintness of its own
- Reality.
- He represented my quiddity I suppose – the part which, thanks to you, has converted a black pessimism about life into a belief in cosmic absurdity.