Singular vs Specific - What's the difference?
singular | specific | Related terms |
Being only one of a larger population.
Being the only one of the kind; unique.
* Addison
* Chaucer
Distinguished by superiority; eminent; extraordinary; exceptional.
Out of the ordinary; curious.
* Denham
* Milton
(grammar) Referring to only one thing or person.
(linear algebra, of matrix) Having no inverse.
(linear algebra, of transformation) Having the property that the matrix of coefficients of the new variables has a determinant equal to zero.
(set theory, of a cardinal number) Not equal to its own .
(legal) Each; individual.
(obsolete) Engaged in by only one on a side; single.
* Holinshed
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
* Coleridge
(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)
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.
Singular is a related term of specific.
As adjectives the difference between singular and specific
is that singular is singular (linear algebra: of matrix: having no inverse) while specific is explicit or definite.As a noun specific is
a distinguishing attribute or quality.singular
English
Alternative forms
* (abbreviation):Adjective
(en adjective)- A singular experiment cannot be regarded as scientific proof of the existence of a phenomenon.
- She has a singular personality.
- These busts of the emperors and empresses are all very scarce, and some of them almost singular in their kind.
- And God forbid that all a company / Should rue a singular man's folly.
- (Francis Bacon)
- a man of singular gravity or attainments
- It was very singular ; I don't know why he did it.
- So singular a sadness / Must have a cause as strange as the effect.
- His zeal / None seconded, as out of season judged, / Or singular and rash.
- to convey several parcels of land, all and singular
- to try the matter thus together in a singular combat
Synonyms
* (being only one) individual * (being the only one of a kind) unique * (distinguished by superiority) exceptional, extraordinary, remarkable * (being out of the ordinary) curious, eccentric, funny, odd, peculiar, strange, rum, rummy, unusual * non-invertibleAntonyms
* plural * invertible, non-singularDerived terms
* singularity * singularizeAntonyms
* pluralExternal links
* * *See also
* * simplex * simple * single * singulusAnagrams
* ----specific
English
Alternative forms
* specifick (obsolete)Adjective
(en adjective)- Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.
- In fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of the science.