From Old French specifique, from Late Latin specificus, from Latin speciēs + faciō ("make").

• (America, British) IPA: /spəˈsɪf.ɪk/, /spɪˈsɪf.ɪk/
• (HK) IPA: /spɛk.ˈsi.fɪk/

specific

1. explicit or definite.
2. (bioscience, taxonomy) pertaining to a species, as a taxon or taxa at the rank of species.

   Hyponyms: monospecific, multispecific, oligospecific, paucispecific

   Coordinate terms: subspecific, infraspecific, generic, familial

   • 2008, Richard Dawkins, The Oxford Book of Modern Science Writing, Oxford, published 2009, page 3:

     Science and literature, then, are the two achievements of Homo sapiens that most convincingly justify the specific name.

3. special, distinctive or unique.
4. intended for, or applying to, a particular thing.
5. Serving to identify a particular thing (often a disease or condition), with little risk of mistaking something else for it.

   a highly specific test    specific and nonspecific symptoms

6. being a remedy for a particular disease on a deeper level, rather than just masking the symptoms

   Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria.

   Any improvement in secondary sciatica is probably due to the analgesic action of the sodium salicylate, but in primary sciatica, in all likelihood “rheumatic,” the effect of the sodium salicylate appears to be specific rather than symptomatic.

   • 1830 May 23, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “Constitutional and Functional Life—Hysteria—Hydro-carbonic Gas—Bitters and Tonics—Specific Medicines”, in H[enry] N[elson] C[oleridge], editor, Specimens of the Table Talk of the Late Samuel Taylor Coleridge. […], volume I, London: John Murray, […], published 1835, →OCLC ↗, page 147 ↗:

     The study of specific medicines is too much disregarded now. No doubt, the hunting after specifics is a mark of ignorance and weakness in medicine, yet the neglect of them is proof also of immaturity; for, in fact, all medicines will be found specific in the perfection of science.

7. (immunology) limited to a particular antibody or antigen.
8. (physics) of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)
9. (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)
10. (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)

• (explicit, definite) express, monosemous, unambiguous; see also Thesaurus:explicit
• (special, distinctive or unique) singular; see also Thesaurus:unique
• (intended for a particular thing) peculiar, singular; see also Thesaurus:specific

• unspecific, nonspecific
• (antonym(s) of “intended for a particular thing”): broad, general, generic, universal; see also Thesaurus:generic
  • all-purpose
  • general-purpose
  • gross
  • nonspecific
  • non-specific
  • overall
  • pandemic
  • widespread
  • era-specific
  • group-specific antigen
  • specific activity
  • specific gravity bottle

• German: spezifisch
• Italian: specifico
• Portuguese: específico
• Russian: я́вный
• Spanish: específico

• Portuguese: específico
• Russian: видово́й

• Portuguese: específico

• Italian: particolare
• Russian: осо́бенный

• German: spezifisch
• Italian: peculiare, specifico
• Portuguese: específico
• Russian: специа́льный

• Portuguese: específico
• Spanish: específico

• Italian: specifico

• Italian: specifico
• Russian: удельный

• Russian: относительный

specific (plural specifics)

1. A distinguishing attribute or quality.
2. A remedy for a specific disease or condition.
   • 1831, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter IX, in Romance and Reality. […], volume III, London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC ↗, page 201 ↗:

     Change of scene, and a new lover, are infallible specifics, always supposing there is no character for constancy to be supported: if I witness the violent sorrow of to-day, I impose upon to-morrow the necessity of being sorry also.

   • 1968, Charles Portis, True Grit:

     I had no unreasonable fear of bats, […] yet I knew them too for carriers of the dread “Hydrophobia,” for which there was no specific.

3. Specification
4. (in the plural) The details; particulars.

• German: Spezifik, Spezifikum, Besonderheit