English Reference
Noun

specificity

n. uncountable
C1 Advanced US /ˌspɛsəˈfɪsəti/ UK /spˌɛsɪfˈɪsɪti/ speci·fici·ty UK spelling specificities Medicine Statistics

n.the quality of being exact and clear rather than general. You use this when you want to talk about how detailed or precise something is.

n.the quality of being clearly defined or identified; the state of being precise rather than general. In medical and statistical contexts, it refers to the ability of a test to correctly identify those without a specific condition.


SIMPLE

The plan lacks specificity and needs more detail.

CONTEXTUAL

The lawyer asked for more specificity regarding the dates and times mentioned in the witness's statement.

COMPLEX

While the screening test showed high sensitivity for detecting the virus, its low specificity resulted in several false positives among the healthy control group.

Usage

Often paired with the preposition 'of' or used in the phrase 'lack of specificity'.

But there is a deep cultural specificity to Ha’s approach that is fundamental to understanding his art.

The Guardian· 27 Aug 2026

Mallorca is photographed like a stock image, its specificities digitally scrubbed clean.

The Guardian· 26 Aug 2026

From specific + -ity. Compare French spécificité.

Etymology adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

This entry
Level C1 · Advanced
Frequency Frequent
Updated