Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: Specific |
SpecificAdjective1. (sometimes followed by `to') applying to or characterized by or distinguishing something particular or special or unique; "rules with specific application"; "demands specific to the job"; "a specific and detailed account of the accident". 2. Stated explicitly or in detail; "needed a specific amount". 3. Relating to or distinguishing or constituting a taxonomic species; "specific characters". 4. (med and pathology) being or affecting a disease produced by a particular microorganism or condition; used also of stains or dyes used in making microscope slides; "quinine is highly specific for malaria"; "a specific remedy"; "a specific stain is one having a specific affinity for particular structural elements. Noun1. A fact about some part (as opposed to general); "he always reasons from the particular to the general". 2. A medicine that has a mitigating effect on a specific disease; "quinine is a specific for malaria". Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "specific" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1321. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Aerospace | A modifier generally implying per unit mass. (references) |
Medicine | Of or pertaining to any particular thing. Source: European Union. (references) |
Mining | Word used with a special meaning in mineral dressing, where minerals of the same species often exhibit differences in their reactions. "Specific to" warns the observer that the process in hand is empirical in some ways,designed to apply to one specific orebody. (references) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
In calculus, the indefinite integral of a given function (i.e. the set of all antiderivatives of the function) is often written with a constant, the constant of integration. The reason is that if a function f is defined on an interval and F is an antiderivative of f, then the set of all antiderivatives of f is given by the functions F(x) + c, with c an arbitrary constant.For example, the formula
gives a compact description of all antiderivaties of the function f(x) = cos(x); C here serves as the constant of integration.
Occasionally, it is necessary to find a particular antiderivative F of f with a given condition, such as F(0) = 0. This can be done by first finding the indefinite integral, and then solving for the particular value of the constant of integration determined by the condition.
In indefinite integrals, the constant of integration is always an additive one. When solving certain ordinary differential equations, for instance with the method of separation of variables, one has to keep track of the integration constants because they determine the set of solutions to the differential equation, and not all of them remain additive.
While it may seem that there is a "simplest integral", whose constant of integration is C = 0, this is not so. For example, consider the integral of -2cos(x)sin(x): if I(x) = cos2(x), and J(x) = -sin2(x), then note that I(x) = J(x) + 1; so the set of functions of the form {J(x) + C} is equal to the set of functions of the form {I(x) + C}. Thus, the choice of whether I(x) or J(x) is "simplest" is entirely arbitrary.
In the language of abstract algebra, the presence of C shows that indefinite integrals are actually cosets, with respect to the kernel of the differentiation map that is being inverted.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Arbitrary constant of integration."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
This article deals with the biological usage of the term. See combinatorial species for a mathematical usage.Species is a taxonomic concept used in biology to refer to a population of organisms that are in some important ways similar. The idea of species has a long history. After thousands of years of use, the concept remains central to biology and a host of related fields, and yet also remains at times ill-defined and controversial. There are several main lines of thought in the definition of species:
In practice, these definitions often coincide, and the differences between them are more a matter of emphasis than of outright contradiction. Nevertheless, no species concept yet proposed is entirely objective, or can be applied in all cases without resorting to judgement.
- A morphological species is a group of organisms that have a distinctive form: for example, we can distinguish between a chicken and a duck because they have different shaped bills and the duck has webbed feet. Species have been defined in this way since well before the beginning of recorded history. Although much criticised, the concept of morphological species remains the single most widely used species concept in everyday life, and still retains an important place within the biological sciences, particularly in the case of plants.
- The biological species or isolation species concept identifies a species as a set of actually or potentially interbreeding organisms. This is generally the most useful formulation for scientists working with living examples of the higher taxa like mammals, fish, and birds, but meaningless for organisms that do not reproduce sexually. It distinguishes between the theoretical possibility of interbreeding and the actual likelihood of gene flow between populations. For example, it is possible to cross a horse with a donkey and produce offspring, however they remain separate species—in this case for two different reasons: first because horses and donkeys do not normally interbreed in the wild, and second because the fruit of the union is rarely fertile. The key to defining a biological species is that there is no significant cross-flow of genetic material between the two populations.
- A mate-recognition species is defined as a group of organisms that are known to recognise one another as potential mates. Like the isolation species concept above, it is not applicable to organisms that do not reproduce sexually.
- A phylogenetic or evolutionary or Darwinian species is a group of organisms that shares a common ancestor; a lineage that maintains its integrity with respect to other lineages through both time and space. At some point in the progress of such a group, members may diverge from one another: when such a divergence becomes sufficiently clear, the two populations are regarded as separate species.
The naming of a particular species should be regarded as a hypothesis about the evolutionary relationships and distinguishability of that group of organisms. As further information comes to hand, the hypothesis may be confirmed or refuted. As a result of the revolutionary (and still ongoing) advance in microbiological research techniques in the later years of the 20th century, a great deal of extra knowledge about the differences and similarities between species has become available. Many populations which were formerly regarded as separate species are now considered to be a single biological unit, and many formerly grouped populations have been split. At higher taxonomic levels, these changes have been still more profound.
The isolation species concept in more detail
In general, for large, complex, organisms that reproduce sexually (such as mammals and birds) one of several variations on the isolation or biological species concept is employed. Often, the distinction between different species, even quite closely related ones, is simple. Horses (Equus caballus) and donkeys (Equus asinus) are easily told apart even without study or training, and yet are so closely related that they can interbreed after a fashion. Because the result, a mule or hinny, is not usually fertile, they are clearly separate species.
But many cases are more difficult to decide. This is where the isolation species concept diverges from the evolutionary species concept. Both agree that a species is a lineage that maintains its integrity over time, that is diagnosably different to other lineages (else we could not recognise it), is reproductively isolated (else the lineage would merge into others, given the chance to do so), and has a working intra-species recognition system (without which it could not continue). In practice, both also agree that a species must have its own independent evolutionary history—otherwise the characteristics just mentioned would not apply. The species concepts differ in that the evolutionary species concept does not make predictions about the future of the population: it simply records that which is already known. In contrast, the isolation species concept refuses to assign the rank of species to populations that, in the best judgement of the researcher, would recombine with other populations if given the chance to do so.
The isolation question
There are, essentially, two questions to resolve. First, is the proposed species consistently and reliably distinguishable from other species? Secondly, is it likely to remain so in the future? To take the second question first, there are several broad geographic possibilities.
- The proposed species are sympatric—they occupy the same habitat. Observation of many species over the years has failed to establish even a single instance of two diagnostically different populations that exist in sympatry and have then merged to form one united population. Without reproductive isolation, population differences cannot develop, and given reproductive isolation, gene flow between the populations cannot merge the differences. This is not to say that cross breeding does not take place at all, simply that it has become negligible. Generally, the hybrid individuals are less capable of successful breeding than pure-bred individuals of either species.
- The proposed species are allopatric—they occupy different geographical areas. Obviously, it is not possible to observe reproductive isolation in allopatric groups directly. Often it is not possible to achieve certainty by experimental means either: even if the two proposed species interbreed in captivity, this does not demonstrate that they would freely interbreed in the wild, nor does it always provide much information about the evolutionary fitness of hybrid individuals. A certain amount can be inferred from other experimental methods: for example, do the members of population A respond appropriately to playback of the recorded mating calls of population B? Sometimes, experiments can provide firm answers. For example, there are seven pairs of apparently almost identical marine snapping shrimp (Altheus) populations on either side of the Isthmus of Panama (which did not exist until about 3 million years ago). Until then, it is assumed, they were members of the same 7 species. But when males and females from opposite sides of the isthmus are placed together, they fight instead of mating. Even if the isthmus were to sink under the waves again, the populations would remain genetically isolated: therefore they are now different species. In many cases, however, neither observation nor experiment can produce certain answers, and the determination of species rank must be made on a 'best guess' basis from a general knowledge of other related organisms.
- The proposed species are parapatric—they have breeding ranges that abut but do not overlap. This is fairly rare, particularly in temperate regions. The dividing line is often a sudden change in habitat (an ecotone) like the edge of a forest or the snow line on a mountain, but can sometimes be remarkably trivial. The parapatry itself indicates that the two populations occupy such similar ecological roles that they cannot coexist in the same area. Because they do not crossbreed, it is safe to assume that there is a mechanism, often behavioral, that is preventing gene flow between the populations, and therefore that they should be classified as separate species.
- There is a hybrid zone where the two populations mix. Typically, the hybrid zone will include representatives of one or both of the 'pure' populations, plus first-generation and back-crossing hybrids. The strength of the barrier to genetic transmission between the two pure groups can be assessed by the width of the hybrid zone relative to the typical dispersal distance of the organisms in question. (The dispersal distance of oaks, for example, is the distance that a bird or squirrel can be expected to carry an acorn; the dispersal distance of Numbats is about 15 kilometres, as this is as far as young Numbats will normally travel in search of vacant territory to occupy after leaving the nest.) The narrower the hybrid zone relative to the dispersal distance, the less gene flow there is between the population groups, and the more likely it is that they will continue on separate evolutionary paths. Nevertheless, it can be very difficult to predict the future course of a hybrid zone; the decision to define the two hybridizing populations as either the same species or as separate species is difficult and potentially controversial.
- The variation in the population is clinal—at either extreme of the population's geographic distribution, typical individuals are clearly different, but the transition between them is seamless and gradual. For example, the Koalas of northern Australia are clearly smaller and lighter in colour than those of the south, but there is no particular dividing line: the further south an individual Koala is found, the larger and darker it is likely to be; Koalas in intermediate regions are intermediate in weight and colour. In contrast, over the same geographic range, black-backed (northern) and white-backed (southern) Australian Magpies do not blend from one type to another: northern populations have black backs, southern populations white backs, and there is an extensive hybrid zone where both 'pure' types are common, as are crossbreeds. The variation in Koalas is clinal (a smooth transition from north to south, with populations in any given small area having a uniform appearance), but the variation in magpies is not clinal. In both cases, there is some uncertainty regarding correct classification, but the consensus view is that species rank is not justified in either. The gene flow between northern and southern magpie populations is judged to be sufficiently restricted to justify terming them subspecies (not full species); but the seamless way that local Koala populations blend one into another shows that there is substantial gene flow between north and south. As a result, experts tend to reject even subspecies rank in this case.
The difference question
Obviously, when defining a species, the geographic circumstances become meaningful only if the populations groups in question are clearly different: if they are not consistently and reliably distinguishable from one another, then we have no grounds for believing that they might be different species. The key question in this context, is "how different is different?" and the answer is usually "it all depends".
In theory, it would be possible to recognise even the tiniest of differences as sufficient to delineate a separate species, provided only that the difference is clear and consistent (and that other criteria are met). There is no universal rule to state the smallest allowable difference between two species, but in general, very trivial differences are ignored on the twin grounds of simple practicality, and genetic similarity: if two population groups are so close that the distinction between them rests on an obscure and microscopic difference in morphology, or a single base substitution in a DNA sequence, then a demonstration of restricted gene flow between the populations will probably be difficult in any case.
More typically, one or other of the following requirements must be met:
Sometimes it is not possible to isolate a single difference between species, and several factors must be taken in combination. This is often the case with plants in particular. In eucalypts, for example, Corymbia ficifolia cannot be reliably distinguished from its close relative Corymbia calophylla by any single measure (and sometimes individual trees cannot be definitely assigned to either species), but populations of Corymbia can be clearly told apart by comparing the colour of flowers, bark, and buds, number of flowers for a given size of tree, and the shape of the leaves and fruit.
- It is possible to reliably measure a quantitative difference between the two groups that does not overlap. A population has, for example, thicker fur, rougher bark, longer ears, or larger seeds than another population, and although this characteristic may vary within each population, the two do not grade into one another, and given a reasonably large sample size, there is a definite discontinuity between them. Note that this applies to populations, not individual organisms, and that a small number of exceptional individuals within a population may 'break the rule' without invalidating it. The less a quantitative difference varies within a population and the more it varies between populations, the better the case for making a distinction. Nevertheless, borderline situations can only be resolved by making a 'best-guess' judgement.
- It is possible to distinguish a qualitative difference between the populations; a feature that does not vary continuously but is either entirely present or entirely absent. This might be a distinctively shaped seed pod, an extra primary feather, a particular courting behaviour, or a clearly different DNA sequence.
When using a combination of characteristics to distinguish between populations, it is necessary to use a reasonably small number of factors (if more than a handful are needed, the genetic difference between the populations is likely to be insignificant and is unlikely to endure into the future), and to choose factors that are functionally independent (height and weight, for example, should usually be considered as one factor, not two).
Historical development of the species concept
In the earliest works of science, a species was simply an individual organism that represented a group of similar or nearly identical organisms. No other relationships beyond that group were implied. When early observers began to develop systems of organization for living things, they began to place formerly isolated species into a context. To the modern mind, many of the schemes delineated are whimsical at best, such as those that determined consanguinity based on color (all plants with yellow flowers) or behavior (snakes, scorpions and certain biting ants).
In the 18th century Carolus Linnaeus classified organisms according to differences in the form of reproductive apparatus. Although his system of classification sorts organisms according to degrees of similarity, it made no claims about the relationship between similar species. At the time, it was common to believe that there is no organic connection between species, no matter how similar they appear; every species was individually created by God, a view today called creationism. This approach also suggested a type of idealism: the notion that each species exists as an "ideal form". Although there are always differences (although sometimes minute) between individual organisms, Linnaeus considered such variation problematic. He strove to identify individual organisms that were exemplary of the species, and considered other non-exemplary organisms to be deviant and imperfect.
By the 19th century most naturalists understood that species could change form over time, and that the history of the planet provided enough time for major changes. As such, the new emphasis was on determining how a species could change over time. Lamarck suggested that an organism could pass on an acquired trait to its offspring. As an example, imagine an animal that repeatedly stretches its neck in order to reach the treetops: the longer neck that it has acquired would then, according to this theory, be passed on to its offspring. This well-known and simplistic example, however, does not do justice to the breadth and subtly of Lamarck's ideas.
Lamarck's most important insight may have been that species can be extraordinarily fluid; his 1809 Zoological Philosophy contained one of the first logical refutations of creationism. With the advent of Darwin, Lamarck's reputation suffered gravely. It was not until the late 20th century that his work began to be reexamined, and took its place as a fundamental stepping stone to the modern theory of adaptive mutation. Lamarck's long-discarded ideas of the goal-oriented evolution of species, also known the teleological process, have also received renewed attention, particularly by proponents of artificial selection.
Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace provided what scientists now consider the most powerful and compelling theory of evolution. Basically, Darwin argued that it is populations that evolve, not individuals. His argument relies on a radical shift in perspective from Linnaeus: rather than defining species in ideal terms (and searching for an ideal representative and rejecting deviations), Darwin considered variation among individuals to be natural. He further argued that such variation, far from being problematic, is actually a good thing.
Following Thomas Malthus, he suggested that population would often exceed the amount of food available, and that some organisms would die. Darwin suggested that those organisms that would die would be those less adapted to their environment, and that those that survived -- and reproduced -- would be those best adapted to their environment. Variation among members of a species is important because different and changing environments favor different traits (i.e. there is no ideal trait; whether a trait is beneficial or not depends on the environment).
These survivors would not pass acquired traits on to their offspring; they would pass their inherited traits on to their offspring. But since the environment effectively selected which organisms would live to reproduce, the environment would select which traits would be passed on. This is the theory of evolution by "natural selection." For example, among a group of animals some have longer necks, others have shorter necks. If all the leaves are high up, those with shorter necks will die; those with longer necks will thrive. This process is evident today as resistant strains of bacteria evolve.
The development of the field of genetics (many years after Darwin) has revealed the mechanisms that generate variation as well as those through which traits are passed on from generation to generation.
The theory of the evolution of species through natural selection has two important implications for discussions of species -- consequences that fundamentally challenge the assumptions behind Linnaeus' taxonomy. First, it suggests that species are not just similar, they may actually be related. Some students of Darwin argue that all species are descended from a common ancestor. Second, it supposes that "species" are not homogeneous, fixed, permanent things; members of a species are all different, and over time species change. This suggests that species do not have any clear boundaries but are rather momentary statistical effects of constantly changing gene-frequencies. One may still use Linnaeus' taxonomy to identify individual plants and animals, but one can no longer think of species as independent and immutable.
The rise of a new species from a parental line is called speciation. There is no clear line demarcating the ancestral species from the descendant species.
Although the current scientific understanding of species suggests there is no principled, black and white way to distinguish between different species in all cases, biologists continue to seek concrete ways to operationalize the idea. One of the most popular biological definitions of species is in terms of reproductive isolation; if two creatures cannot reproduce to produce fertile offspring, then they are in different species. This definition captures a number of intuitive species boundaries, but nonetheless has some problems, however. It has nothing to say about species that reproduce asexually, for example, and is it very difficult to apply to extinct species. Moreover, boundaries between species are often fuzzy: there are examples where members of one population can produce fertile offspring with a second population, and members of the second population can produce fertile offspring with members of a third population, but members of the first and third population cannot produces fertile offspring. Consequently, some people reject this notion of species.
Richard Dawkins defines two organisms as conspecific if and only if they have the same number of chromosomes and, for each chromosome, both organisms have the same number of nucleotides. (The Blind Watchmaker, p. 118)
The classification of species has been profoundly affected by technological advances that have allowed researchers to determine relatedness based on genetic markers. The results have been nothing short of revolutionary, resulting in the reordering of vast expanses of the phylogenetic tree (see also molecular phylogeny).
A species name can be:
There are several common species names. Most of these are adjectives.
- A noun in apposition with the genus: Panthera leo. The words agree in case but not necessarily in gender.
- An adjective, agreeing in case and gender with the genus: Allium sativum.
- A noun or adjective in the genitive. This is common in parasites: Xenos vesparum, Anaticola phoenicopteri. Also, names of people and places are used in the genitive: Latimeria chalumnae.
Linnaean taxonomy discusses how the category "species" meshes with other classification categories, such as "kingdom" and "genus".
Compare with race.
In chemistry, a species indicates that two particles are the same atomic nucleus, atom, molecule, or ion.
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Species."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
| sp. | English | Specific | Medicine |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: SpecificSynonym: particular (n). (additional references) |
| Antonyms: nonspecific (adj), general (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Density | Specific gravity; hydrometer, areometer. |
Fuel | Adjective: carbonaceous; combustible, inflammable; high octane, high specific impulse; heat of combustion,. |
Oil, petroleum, gasoline, high octane gasoline, nitromethane, petrol, gas, juice, gasohol, alcohol, ethanol, methanol, fuel oil, kerosene, jet fuel, heating oil, number oil, number oil, naphtha; rocket fuel, high specific impulse fuel, liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, lox. | |
Gravity | Noun: gravity, gravitation; weight; heaviness. Adjective: specific gravity; pondorosity, pressure, load; burden, burthen; ballast, counterpoise; lump of, mass of, weight of. |
Remedy | Anthelmintic; antidote, antifebrile, antipoison, counterpoison, antispasmodic; bracer, faith cure, placebo; helminthagogue, lithagogue, pick-meup, stimulant, tonic; vermifuge, prophylactic, corrective, restorative; sedative; palliative; febrifuge; alterant, alterative; specific; antiseptic, emetic, analgesic, pain-killer, antitussive, antiinflammatory, antibiotic, antiviral, antifungal, carminative; Nepenthe, Mithridate. |
Speciality | Adjective: special, particular, individual, specific, proper, personal, original, private, respective, definite, determinate, especial, certain, esoteric, endemic, partial, party, peculiar, appropriate, several, characteristic, diagnostic, exclusive; singular; (exceptional); idiomatic; idiotypical; typical. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: Specific |
| English words defined with "specific": specific heat, Specific name, Specific volume. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "specific": apparent specific gravity, application specific standard product ♦ bulk specific gravity ♦ density specific impulse ♦ fourfold-coordination specific electron affinity ♦ ratio of specific heats ♦ Site Specific Hydrologic Prediction System, specific application service element, specific conductance, specific humidity, specific identification method, specific immune cells, specific markup, specific metal removed, specific propellant consumption, specific speed, specific thrust, specific valuation allowance. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "specific": Quassia. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "Specific" is also a word in the following language with English translations in parentheses. Romanian (appropriate, distinctive, individual, note, peculiar, proper, quiddity, singularity, specific, specifically). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Do you have someplace specific in mind or do you just want to be dumped off at the border (The Wizard; writing credit: David Chisholm) You're so specific. (Natural Born Killers; writing credit: David Veloz) Who? Because in this crowd you're going to have to be a bit more specific. (Save the Last Dance; writing credit: Duane Adler) Don't use seven words when four will do. Don't shift your weight, look always at your mark but don't stare, be specific but not memorable, be funny but don't make him laugh (Ocean's Eleven; writing credit: George Clayton Johnson; Jack Golden Russell) The Führer had something specific in mind (The Eagle Has Landed; writing credit: Jack Higgins; Tom Mankiewicz) | |
Lyrics | Hieroglyphics? Let me be specific I wanna be down in your South Seas (The Bad Touch; performing artist: Bloodhound Gang) | |
Clever | The burdens of the world on my back lightens the world not one whit, while removing them greatly decreases my specific gravity. (references; author: unknown) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
References | |||
Books |
| ||
Periodicals |
| ||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | Shown is a computer graphic of tgf-beta molecule. Tgf-beta belongs to a superfamily of fetal inducers and regressors, which signal specific patterns of cellular differentiation. Tgf-beta, a cytokine with three different isoforms, regulates many cellular functions including cell proliferation, differentiation, adhesion and migration. Four novel receptors were characterized that also act as serine/threonine kinases and one of these appears to be a tgf-beta receptor. Credit: Unknown photographer/artist. |  | Proteins in the cytoplasm target and activate biochemical reactions in specific cellular components, such as the mitochondria and the nucleus. Within the nucleus, gene expression is activated and leads to new protein synthesis, which are formed on the endoplasmic reticulum. These proteins are transported via the Golgi complex for packaging and distribution to cellular membrane and for extracellular release. See artwork: (on disk in file). Credit: Jeannie Kelly (artist). |
 | Smallpox is a serious, highly contagious, and sometimes fatal infectious disease. There is no specific treatment for smallpox disease, and the only prevention is vaccination. Credit: CDC. |  | VACTERL association or a nonrandom association of specific newborn abnormalities include to name a few, vertebral dysgenesis, anal defect, cardiac anomalies, tracheoesophageal fistulae, esophageal atresia, radial limb and renal anomalies. Credit: CDC. |
 | The constructed marsh platform needed to be built to a specific elevation to support the marsh. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |  | The first in a series of images showing NOAA scientists at the 1997 transplant site just before transplanting the eelgrass turf. Scientists worked in dry suits in the cold Bay waters and used surface air supplies at the mostly shallow sites. Zostera marina requires a specific set of physical conditions to thrive. The plants need light, nutrients and protection from excessive wave energy. Credit: NOAA Restoration Center. |
 | Figure 46. Regnault pycnometers, instruments first mentioned by the physicist Henri-Victor Regnault, a professor at the College of France, in 1843. These instruments were used to measure the density of liquids which he was studying to obtain their specific heat. Credit: Sailing for Science - the NOAA Fleet Then and Now. |  | ARS plant pathologist Scott Abney (left) and research assistant Tom Richards check the growth of soybeans inoculated with field isolates of Phytophthora sojae. Disease reactions involving specific genes help identify the 45 races of P. sojae that have been reported in the United States. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |
 | Visiting scientist Sergiu Cealic from the Republic of Moldovia works on genetic mapping of eastern gamagrass. If the specific location of the genes that control aerenchyma can be found, those genes may eventually be transferred into corn. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |  | Fish biologist measures fish and writes down specific biological characteristics about the fish. Credit: D. Huntington. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |
| "Wine Grapes on Vine" by Erik Dungan Commentary: "Some wine grapes at a local vineyard. There are several vineyards around my town, so if you need any specific wine-related images, please let me know and I'd be happy to help." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. |
| Author | Quotation |
Lily Tomlin | I always wanted to be somebody, but I should have been more specific. |
Peter F. Drucker | Decision making is the specific executive task. |
Sebastien-Roch Nicolas De Chamfort | Philosophy, like medicine, has plenty of drugs, few good remedies, and hardly any specific cures. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | |
| Author | Date | Quotation |
Marbury v. Madison | 1803 | But where a specific duty is assigned by law, and individual rights depend upon the performance of that duty, it seems equally clear, that the individual who considers himself injured, has a right to resort to the laws of his country for a remedy. (reference) |
Treaty of Versailles | 1919 | The foregoing options shall be exercised through the intervention of the Reparation Commission, which, subject to the specific provisions hereof, shall have power to determine all questions relative to procedure and the qualities and quantities of products, the quantity of coke which may be substituted for coal, and the times and modes of delivery and payment. (reference) |
Brown v. Board of Education | 1954 | In more recent cases, all on the graduate school [347 U.S. 483, 492] level, inequality was found in that specific benefits enjoyed by white students were denied to Negro students of the same educational qualifications. (reference) |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Title | Author | Quote |
Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency | Douglas Adams | Well, no, not married as such, but yes, there is a specific girl that I'm not married to. |
Les Miserables | Hugo, Victor | Their specific gravity in the human race results from something more than a combat |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| Subject | Topic | Quote |
Health | Others zero in on specific germs. (references) | |
Pontiac fever requires no specific treatment. (references) | ||
Other, more specific tests may also be needed. (references) | ||
Business | Many magazines are industry specific. (references) | |
Vendors target specific customers and make direct sales. (references) | ||
For these activities a company needs specific permission. (references) | ||
Children | Swaziland | Child abuse is a problem, and the Government has not made specific efforts to end such abuse. (references) |
Cote d'Ivoire | Adults with disabilities are not specific targets of abuse, but they encounter serious difficulties in employment and education. (references) | |
Ghana | In March the Government proposed returning schools to the religious bodies that formerly ran them; however, no specific plan or timeframe was established. (references) | |
Civil Liberties | Saudi Arabia | Travel to Iraq still requires specific permission. (references) |
Pakistan | The Ahmadis are subject to specific restrictions under law. (references) | |
Vietnam | There were dozens of additional specific reports of similar beatings in the area. (references) | |
Discrimination | Fiji | It also provides for specific affirmative action provisions for those disadvantaged as a result of such discrimination. (references) |
Hong Kong | An Equal Opportunities Commission has been established to work toward the elimination of discrimination and to promote equality of opportunity with specific reference to gender, disability, and family status. (references) | |
Economic History | Nicaragua | Nicaragua has no specific law regulating franchises. (references) |
Human Rights | Russia | No information about the specific charges was made public. (references) |
Kenya | Lawyers can object to the appointments of specific assessors. (references) | |
Maldives | Those who are released pending trial may not leave a specific atoll. (references) | |
Indigenous People | Bolivia | Specific offenders allegedly are illegal coca growers and timber pirates. (references) |
Canada | Since 1999 the authorities have settled 16 specific claims, and 70 comprehensive land claims have been negotiated across the country. (references) | |
Philippines | Although no specific laws discriminate against indigenous people, the remoteness of the areas that many inhabit and cultural bias prevent their full integration into society. (references) | |
Minorities | Italy | Roma are another traditional minority, but without a specific geographic base. (references) |
Uzbekistan | The law originally required that Uzbek would be the sole method of official communication by 1998, but subsequently was modified to remove a specific date. (references) | |
United Kingdom | The Race Relations (Northern Ireland) Order, provides specific legal protection to minority ethnic groups in Northern Ireland, including the Traveller community. (references) | |
Political Economy | CHILE | Pricing policies: The government rarely sets specific prices. (references) |
PANAMA | The Industrial Property Law provides specific protection for trade secrets. (references) | |
RUSSIA | Soft credits are at times provided to small enterprises for specific projects. (references) | |
Political Rights | Belgium | National decisions often take into account the specific needs of each regional and linguistic group. (references) |
Kyrgyz Republic | Observers reported that it was the first time that voters were not pressured to vote for specific candidates. (references) | |
Kuwait | Liberal Assembly members complained that Islamists were using the threat of formal questioning to change government policy on specific issues, such as regulation of Islamic charities and gender segregation. (references) | |
Trade | Philippines | Mandatory standards cover 87 specific products. (references) |
Brazil | Import duty is a federally mandated product specific tax. (references) | |
Haiti | Other products must comply with specific import regulations. (references) | |
Travel | Israel | Supplemental medical insurance with specific overseas coverage has proven useful. (references) |
Brazil | U.S. business visitors should become accustomed to several business conditions specific to Brazil. (references) | |
Taiwan | Visitors should, however, bring sufficient supplies of any specific medications they might require. (references) | |
Women | Armenia | The law cites specific punishments for rape. (references) |
Burkina Faso | The prohibits forced marriage, with specific penalties under the Penal Code for violators. (references) | |
Indonesia | The Manpower Development and Protection Bill includes specific protections for female workers. (references) | |
Worker Rights | Kazakhstan | Law enforcement agencies and the KNB have investigated specific cases of trafficking. (references) |
Yugoslavia | Most other independent unions are sector specific, and have approximately 130,000 members. (references) | |
Nigeria | The Decree allows the apprenticeship of youths at the age of 13 under specific conditions. (references) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits. | ||
| Speaker | Phrase(s) |
Al Hunt | The specific issue you were talking about there was missile defense and what you said was Senator Johnson's insufficient support for it. |
John Ashcroft | I don't want to provide a specific time during which he'll be in the United States, but I expect him to be here shortly. He is the subject of a complaint filed in the eastern district of Virginia and he will be brought to justice. |
John Hartmann | Nothing specific. I'm just saying, it's quite obvious we're all in the conveyer belt to the corporate abattoir. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| Speaker | Term | Phrase(s) |
Thomas Jefferson | 1801-1809 | A portion of this sum may be considered as a commencement of accumulation of the surpluses of revenue which, after paying the installments of debt as they shall become payable, will remain without any specific object. |
John Quincy Adams | 1825-1829 | The establishment of an uniform standard of weights and measures was one of the specific objects contemplated in the formation of our Constitution, and to fix that standard was on of the powers delegated by express terms in that instrument to Congress. |
Andrew Jackson | 1829-1837 | Powerful auxiliaries to the attainment of this desirable end are to be found in the regulations provided by the wisdom of Congress for the specific appropriation of public money and the prompt accountability of public officers. |
Harry S. Truman | 1945-1953 | By legislation and by administration we must take specific steps to discourage the formation or the strengthening of competition-restricting business. |
Jimmy Carter | 1977-1981 | From that base a number of thorough investigations of specific topics continued. |
Ronald Reagan | 1981-1989 | I will ask the Congress to adopt specific measures to control the growth of the so-called uncontrollable spending programs. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
| "Specific" is generally used as an adjective (general or positive) -- approximately 99.99% of the time. "Specific" is used about 11,289 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Adjective (general or positive) | 99.99% | 11,288 | 824 |
| Total | 100.00% | 11,289 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
Expressions using "specific": application specific standard product ♦ cysteinyl aspartate specific proteinase ♦ high specific impulse fuel ♦ human specific immunoglobulins ♦ Lymphocyte Specific Protein Tyrosine Kinase p56(lck) ♦ net specific energy ♦ operator specific service ♦ prostate specific antigen ♦ ratio of specific heats ♦ specific acoustic impedance ♦ specific aim ♦ specific application service element ♦ specific aspects ♦ specific character ♦ specific combining ability ♦ specific commodity rate ♦ specific degradation ♦ specific difference ♦ specific disease ♦ specific document instance ♦ specific duty ♦ specific feature ♦ specific gravity ♦ specific heat ♦ Specific heat of a substance ♦ specific heat of a substance at any temperature ♦ specific humidity ♦ specific identification method ♦ specific immune cells ♦ specific inductive capacity ♦ specific legacy ♦ specific markup ♦ specific metal removed ♦ specific name ♦ specific pathogen free ♦ Specific Pathogen-Free Organisms ♦ specific performance ♦ specific resistance ♦ specific sediment discharge ♦ specific treatment ♦ specific volume ♦ specific weight ♦ specific weight of sediment ♦ specific yield ♦ with specific intentions. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "specific": specific-issue, specific-lesson, specific-to-general, specific-volume-temperature. | |
Ending with "specific": age-specific, antigen-specific, application-specific, brain-specific, class-specific, context-specific, country-specific, cpu-specific, culture-specific, curriculum-specific, disease-specific, domain-specific, enterprise-specific, firm-specific, gender-specific, genre-specific, goods-specific, hardware-specific, industry-specific, input-specific, language-specific, liver-stage-specific, location-specific, lps-specific, male-specific, muscle-specific, neuronal-specific, neuron-specific, non-specific, occupationally-specific, place-specific, platelet-specific, pou-specific, product-specific, sector-specific, sequence-specific, shape-specific, situation-specific, species-specific, structure-specific, subject-specific, substrate-specific, tissue-specific, toxoplasma-specific, type-specific, user-specific, use-specific, vendor-specific, visceral-specific. | |
Containing "specific": Application-Specific Integrated Circuit, disease-specific survival, domain-specific language, Pregnancy-Specific beta 1-Glycoprotein, prostate-specific antigen, service-specific-disciplinary, Site-Specific DNA Methyltransferase (Cytosine-Specific), Site-Specific DNA-Methyltransferase (Adenine-Specific). | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Language | Translations for "specific"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Afrikaans | spesifiek. (various references) | |
Albanian | specifik, mjet specifik, i veçantë (characteristic, detached, discrete, distinct, distinctive, especial, exceptional, exclusive, extra, extra special, individual, odd, of one's own, off, particular, particularized, peculiar, pet, queer, racy, rare, separate, single, sole, special, uncommon). (various references) | |
Arabic | مميز (characteristic, diacritical, differential, discerning, discriminative, discriminatory, distinctive, distinguishing, judicial, peculiar, perceptive, percipient, special), محدد (appointed, assigned, be specified, clear-cut, concrete, definite, designated, determined, explicit, express, fixed, given, identified, indicated, particular, precise, prescribed, set, specified, stipulated), معين (appointed, certain, concrete, definite, itemized, lozenge, nominated, particular), نوعي (qualitative), واضح (apparent, bold, broad, clear, conspicuous, decided, definite, elucidative, evident, explicit, express, frank, intelligible, legible, limpid, lucid, luminous, manifest, marked, obvious, outspoken, palpable, patent, pellucid, perspicuous, plain, plump, pointed, pronounced, punctual, purposely, seeming, sharp, transparent, trenchant, visible), خصوصي (characteristic, confidential, exclusive, individual, particular, peculiar, personal, private, special), خاص (ad hoc, individual, particular, peculiar, personal, private, privy, proper, relative, special), دقيق (accurate, careful, close, delicate, elaborate, exact, express, farina, fine, flour, inappreciable, infinitesimal, intangible, just, keen, mathematical, meal, nearness, nice, painstaking, particular, pernickety, precise, punctilious, punctual, rigorous, scrupulous, searching, sharp, sound, straightforward, strict, ticklish, tiny, touchy, tricky, true, veracious). (various references) | |
Bulgarian | свойствен (congenial, habitual, immanent, inherent, intrinsic, peculiar, proper), специфично средство, специфично лекарство, специфичен (particular, peculiar), характерно черта, характерно качество (tang, texture), характерен (distinctive, idiosyncratic, proper, racy, representative), точно определен, видов (typical), особен (distinct, especial, exclusive, fanciful, funny, idiosyncratic, individual, odd, original, particular, peculiar, queer, special, strange, uncommon), недвусмислен (clean-cut, plain, positive, round, straight, unambiguous, unequivocal, watertight). (various references) | |
Chinese | 特定 (designated, particular, special), 具體 (concrete, definite), 具体 (Concrete, Specifical). (various references) | |
Czech | specifický (typical, unique), urèitý (certain, declarative, definite, determinate, peremptory, positive, some, strict, such and such), přesný (accurate, clean-cut, clear-cut, correct, definite, exact, faithful, just, literal, nice, precise, punctual, right, strict, subtle, true, truthful), konkrétní (concrete, definite, particular). (various references) | |
Danish | specifik. (various references) | |
Dutch | specifiek. (various references) | |
Esperanto | specifika, specifa. (various references) | |
Faeroese | serstakur (apart, particular, separate, special), tilskilaður. (various references) | |
Farsi | معین (Accessory, Adjutant, Ally, Ancillary, Auxiliary, Definite, Given, Positive, Precise, Punctual, Regular, Standard, Subsidiary), مخصوص (Favorite, Particular, Special), ویژه (Adhoc, Net, Particular, Peculiar), خاص (Particular, Sacred, Special), اخص , بخصوص (Particular). ( |
