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OneKitly

specifically

adverbcommon in dialogue

  • Australia//spɪˈsɪf.ɪ.kli//
  • Australia//spəˈsɪf.ɪ.kli//
  • New Zealand//spəˈsəf.ə.kli//

In a specific manner, applying to or naming a particular thing or things, expressly, explicitly.

adverb

  1. 1

    In a specific manner, applying to or naming a particular thing or things, expressly, explicitly.

    Unless specifically waived by the IRB, all subjects, or their legally authorized representatives, must document that they are consenting to participate in any research project that is approved by the University of North Dakota Institutional Review Board.

    Unless a rule or statute specifically states otherwise, a pleading need not be verified or accompanied by an affidavit.

    Many laws are directed specifically at child abuse.

    This was widely interpreted to mean that slavery was once more firmly illegal in England. However, the "positive law" mentioned–i.e., a direct law specifically enabling slavery–existed in many British colonies (although not all), since these colonies had a degree of freedom to write their own law apart from that of the home country.

  2. 2

    For a specific purpose or reason.

Etymology

Etymology tree English specific Proto-Indo-European *h₂el- Proto-Indo-European *-is Proto-Indo-European *h₂élisder.? Proto-Italic *-ālis Latin -ālisbor. Old French -albor. ▲ Latin -ālis Old French -elbor. ▲ Latin -ālisbor. Middle English -al Proto-Indo-European *leyg-der. Proto-Germanic *līkąder. Proto-Germanic *-līkaz Proto-Germanic *-ê Proto-Germanic *-līkê Proto-West Germanic *-līkē Old English -līċe Middle English -ly Middle English -ally English -ally English specifically From specific + -ally.

Forms

comparative
more specifically
superlative
most specifically
The neighbouring pagesAlphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.

Lexical content from Wiktionary, under CC BY-SA 4.0 · Source entry · Data version 2026-08-23

Rank among the words of the OpenSubtitles 2018 corpus — film and television subtitles, so spoken rather than written usage (CC BY-SA 3.0).