particular

Less common meanings

5. 5
   fussyadjective

   Of a person, attentive to detail and hard to satisfy; fastidious.

   My grandmother was particular about which fork went with each course.

   Editors who are particular about punctuation can be exhausting to work with.

   UsageUsually particular about something: particular about food, very particular about punctuation.

   Similarfussy, choosy, fastidious, exacting, pedantic

   Oppositeeasygoing, undemanding

   Note

   In Conan Doyle's When the World Screamed, there is a scraper as well as a mat, because "Mrs. Challenger is most particular."

6. 6
   detailedadjective

   Attentive to detail; minute, circumstantial, and precise in its treatment of a matter.

   The nineteenth-century surveyor's report is full and particular, noting the depth of every well and the owner of every field along the route.

   Historians value her letters because they give a minute and particular picture of daily life in the camp, from the price of bread to the hour of roll call.

   UsageUsed of accounts and reports rather than people, often in a full and particular account.

   Similarprecise, thorough, careful, meticulous

   Oppositevague, cursory, sketchy

   Note

   Unlike the "fussy" sense, which describes people, this one describes accounts, reports and reckonings. A full and particular account of an accident leaves no circumstance out. Apply the word to a person instead, and it slides toward fastidiousness.

7. 7
   individual thingnouncountable

   An individual thing or single case rather than a whole class, set against generals or universals.

   Philosophers debate whether a particular can exist apart from the qualities it shares with others.

   Every particular is an instance of some broader category.

   Oppositeuniversal

   Note

   Once a general noun for any single case, it now lives chiefly in philosophy and chiefly in the plural. Particulars are individuals, such as this chair, set against universals, the kinds and qualities many share. Bertrand Russell's The Problems of Philosophy (1912) maps the split onto grammar: proper names stand for particulars, and most other words stand for universals. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Particular formerly had the broader noun meaning of an individual case or thing. en.wiktionary.org
   • Philosophical particulars are individuals, including individual physical objects, contrasted with universals shared by multiple individuals. en.wikipedia.org
   • Bertrand Russell wrote The Problems of Philosophy, first published in 1912. en.wikipedia.org
   • Russell associates proper names with particulars and most other words with universals. en.wikisource.org
8. 8
   adjectiveobsolete

   Known only to a specific person or group; confidential and not meant for general circulation.

   or these domesticke and particular broiles, Are not the question heere.

   c. 1603, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”

   Note

   Shakespeare's King Lear gives the flavor with "these domesticke and particular broiles," meaning quarrels private to one household. This sense of kept close rather than shared is obsolete; private and confidential now do the work. A modern reader who meets it in older texts should not mistake it for the "fussy" sense. It describes secrecy, not taste. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 3 facts

   • Shakespeare's King Lear contains the quoted wording; Goneril speaks it. firstfolio.bodleian.ox.ac.uk
   • The quotation refers to private family quarrels. folger.edu
   • There is an obsolete confidential sense of 'particular', distinct from being fussy about preferences. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   nounobsolete

   A person's own individual case, interest, or private circumstance.

   Since philosophy could never find any way for tranquillity that might be generally good, let every man in his particular seeke for it.

   1603, Michel de Montaigne, The Essayes

   Note

   A lost noun meaning one's own case or interest, usually after a possessive. Florio's 1603 translation of Montaigne's Essayes bids "every man in his particular" seek tranquility, and The Whole Duty of Man sets blessings that concern the public against those that "concern our particular." The contrast with the common good is the point. Today one's own interest says it. Source

   Checked 5 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Particular had an obsolete noun sense meaning a person's own case or interest, illustrated after possessives. en.wiktionary.org
   • Florio's translation of Montaigne's Essayes was first published in 1603. en.wikipedia.org
   • Florio's translation uses the exact words quoted while advising each person to seek tranquillity individually. pages.uoregon.edu
   • The Whole Duty of Man contrasts public blessings with personal blessings and contains the exact quoted phrase. wesley.nnu.edu
10. 10
    adjective

    In logic, of a proposition: affirmed or denied of some members of its subject, at least one, without a claim about every member.
11. 11
    adjective

    Relating to or covering only a part rather than the whole; partial or limited, as in law, where a particular estate is a limited interest that comes before a remainder or reversion.
12. 12
    adjective

    In property law, holding an estate of limited duration that precedes a later interest such as a remainder or reversion.