Certain vs Specific - What's the difference?
certain | specific |
Sure, positive, not doubting.
(obsolete) Determined; resolved.
* Milton
Not to be doubted or denied; established as a fact.
* Bible, Dan. ii. 45
Actually existing; sure to happen; inevitable.
* Dryden
* Shakespeare
Unfailing; infallible.
* Mead
Fixed or stated; regular; determinate.
* Bible, Ex. xvi. 4
Not specifically named; indeterminate; indefinite; one or some; sometimes used independently as a noun, and meaning certain persons.
* Bible, Luke v. 12
* Macaulay
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
* , title=The Mirror and the Lamp
, chapter=3 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.
As adjectives the difference between specific and certain
is that specific is explicit or definite while certain is sure, positive, not doubting.As a noun specific
is a distinguishing attribute or quality.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.certain
English
Adjective
(wikipedia certain) (en adjective)- I was certain of my decision.
- However, I with thee have fixed my lot, / Certain to undergo like doom.
- The dream is certain , and the interpretation thereof sure.
- Bankruptcy is the certain outcome of your constant gambling and lending.
- Virtue that directs our ways / Through certain dangers to uncertain praise.
- Death, as the Psalmist saith, is certain to all.
- I have often wished that I knew as certain a remedy for any other distemper.
- The people go out and gather a certain rate every day.
- It came to pass when he was in a certain city.
- About everything he wrote there was a certain natural grace and decorum.
Synonyms
* See alsoAntonyms
* (not doubting) uncertain * (sure to happen) impossible, incidentalDerived terms
* certainlyDeterminer
(en determiner)- Certain of the Jews banded together.
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
*External links
* *Anagrams
* * 1000 English basic words ----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.