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specific

specific

39 6.7
Acting against only a particular disease or germ
  • adjective
  • /spəˈsɪfɪk/
  • Specialized
translation icon : específico
  • The doctor prescribed a specific treatment for the patient's rare condition.
  • specific treatment
  • highly specific
  • disease-specific

Enzymes are very cool because they're specific for every reaction.

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Examples

  • To solve this problem, we need a specific approach that targets the underlying issues.

  • As a consequence, there is no specific treatment available for itch.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Do you have a specific drug in mind?

  • And when you eat those specific foods, you get a response.

  • As this is a viral infection, there is no specific treatment.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Your body is actually attacking specific proteins in your knee joint.

  • The fired cartridge cases can be tested and linked to a specific gun.

  • So, without any specific drug, I'm afraid there isn't much I can do to help.

  • A score of 10 or more is 88% sensitive and 88% specific for major depression.

    Academic text (2011)
  • Well, I can prescribe you a specific treatment for the headaches, but for the condition itself, unfortunately, no, there's no drugs.

Synonyms

particular
vsspecific
3.2

Specific and not general

is used for remedies effective for only one disease or condition

Antonyms

1.0

Not specific and including most people or cases

469 3.7

General and not detailed, covering many things

nonspecific
  • Specialized
5 6.5

Not caused by one clear thing

Compounds

specific heat
  • Specialized
1 5.7

Amount of heat needed to raise one gram of a material by one degree Celsius

specific gravity
  • Specialized
1 4.8

How heavy something is compared with the same amount of water

1 8.8

A court order making someone do what a contract says

1 5.1

A protein made by the prostate gland that doctors measure in blood to check for prostate problems like cancer

specific weight
  • Specialized
5.9

The weight of a material for each amount of space it fills

How Specific

specific
  • Specialized
39 6.7
narrow
181 2.6

Surface Forms

specific positive

Etymology

Specific for medicine comes from the Latin species 'kind', so a specific remedy is one made to fight a particular disease rather than a general cure.