particularity

[ per-tik-yuh-lar-i-tee, puh-tik- ]

noun

, plural par·tic·u·lar·i·ties.

1. the quality or state of being particular.
2. detailed, minute, or circumstantial character, as of description or statement.
3. attention to details; special care.
4. fastidiousness.
5. an individual or characteristic feature or trait; peculiarity.

particularity

/ pəˌtɪkjʊˈlærɪtɪ /

noun

1. often plural a specific circumstance

   the particularities of the affair

2. great attentiveness to detail; fastidiousness
3. the quality of being precise

   a description of great particularity

4. the state or quality of being particular as opposed to general; individuality

   the particularity of human situations

Word History and Origins

Origin of particularity¹

1520–30; < Middle French particularite < Late Latin particulāritāt- (stem of particulāritās ) state of being apart. See particular, -ity

Example Sentences

The autobiographical form is well-suited for articulating an “identity-aware” liberalism because those who write them must contend with the tension between the particularity of individual experience and the universality of sentiments and ideas that can connect us to each other, and possibly to every human being in the world.

From Salon

The West Coast particularity may be a blessing and a curse.

From Los Angeles Times

Rosebrock’s strength as a writer is in the psychological particularity of her characters.

From Los Angeles Times

Aria Dean, 30, a New York-based sculptor and theorist who crafts “objects that speak to the truth of the process of their coming into being,” cites the influence of Robert Morris, who used basic carpentry techniques to argue that art should allow “the spectator to focus on their physical relationship to the work, the particularity of its space of encounter in real time.”

From New York Times

Many Swift songs get lost in dense thickets of their own vocabulary, but here the goofy particularity of the lyrics — chocolate bars, first-name nods to friends, a reference to the pop songwriter Charlie Puth?! — is strangely humanizing.

From New York Times

Related Words

• idiosyncrasy
• peculiarity
• singularity
• uniqueness