technicality

[ tek-ni-kal-i-tee ]

noun

, plural tech·ni·cal·i·ties

1. technical character.
2. the use of technical methods or terms.
3. something that is technical; a technical point, detail, or expression.

technicality

/ ˌtɛknɪˈkælɪtɪ /

noun

1. a petty formal point arising from a strict interpretation of rules, etc

   the case was dismissed on a technicality

2. the state or quality of being technical
3. technical methods and vocabulary

Other Words From

• hyper·techni·cali·ty noun
• over·techni·cali·ty noun plural overtechnicalities

Word History and Origins

Origin of technicality¹

First recorded in 1805–15; technical + -ity

Example Sentences

Now that many of the technicalities have been ironed out, it’s up to the council members to decide if they want to fund the nearly half million dollars for the Roosevelt pool in the upcoming budget.

From Washington Post

Kinne was charged and tried but soon found herself acquitted on a legal technicality.

From Ozy

This was my first time, so I didn’t know the technicalities of it.

From Time

Uganda’s Constitutional Court later struck down the Anti-Homosexuality Act on a technicality.

From Washington Blade

Also, there needs to be a way to address the various technicalities that go into SEO, but that’s for later.

From Search Engine Watch

It will not be your legal responsibility, but you're simply winning on a technicality.

From The Daily Beast

He was arrested, tried and, thanks to a technicality, acquitted.

From The Daily Beast

The case was tossed out the following year on a technicality.

From The Daily Beast

The effect would be to knock down California's gay-marriage ban on a technicality, without affecting the rest of the country.

From The Daily Beast

I said “Britcom” earlier; Father Ted is only that on a technicality.

From The Daily Beast

The real experience has a magnetism of its own and will win above mere technicality whenever it has the opportunity.

From Project Gutenberg

She slid into the silence with a technicality, asking if John still took his old inordinate amount of sugar.

From Project Gutenberg

They are—to fall back on the ancient technicality—Realists of a crude sort.

From Project Gutenberg

Should he condemn himself and Doris Cleveland to heartache and loneliness because of a technicality?

From Project Gutenberg

This I cal186l the Apology of technicality inspired by tyranny.

From Project Gutenberg