Word
selectivity
Phoneticsse·lec·tiv·i·ty
US/sɪˌɫɛkˈtɪvəti/
UK/sɪlɪktˈɪvɪti/
Definition
n. the ability of a chemical process to produce only one specific result while ignoring others. It describes how well a reaction chooses its target.
n. the capacity of a chemical reaction or process to produce a specific product or effect while excluding others. Often used in the context of catalysis or analytical chemistry to describe the precision of a reaction pathway.
Examples
“The new catalyst shows high selectivity for the desired product.”
“Researchers are working to improve the selectivity of the enzyme to ensure it only binds to the target molecule and not to similar ones.”
“In industrial chemistry, the selectivity of a reaction determines the economic viability of a process, as lower selectivity often results in significant waste and the need for costly purification steps.”
Examples
simple
“The new catalyst shows high selectivity for the desired product.”
contextual
“Researchers are working to improve the selectivity of the enzyme to ensure it only binds to the target molecule and not to similar ones.”
complex
“In industrial chemistry, the selectivity of a reaction determines the economic viability of a process, as lower selectivity often results in significant waste and the need for costly purification steps.”
Real-World Examples
Common in science writing
“Breaking down the institutions by selectivity revealed that those with more competitive admissions had improved student success with test-optional policies.” “The mechanism differs fundamentally from conventional surface adsorption-based sensing and provides a new materials-design principle for improving the sensitivity and selectivity of future perovskite gas sensors.” Etymology
From selective + -ity.
Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
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englishreference.com/q/selectivity