# particular

Pronunciation: US say "par-TIK-yuh-lur" /pɑrˈtɪk.jə.lɚ/; UK say "puh-TIK-yuu-luh" /pəˈtɪk.jʊ.lə/

## Adjective

1. Relating to one specific, discrete thing rather than to things in general.
   - Simple: About one exact thing, not just any thing of that kind.
   - _The detective was interested in one particular detail of the alibi._
   - _There is a particular gene that controls this trait in the plant._
2. Distinguished or special in some way, often appearing in negative statements.
   - Simple: Special or worth noticing in some way.
   - _Because the soup had burned twice before, she took particular care to keep the heat low and stir it every few minutes._
   - _He showed a particular fondness for old jazz recordings._
3. Characteristic of, or belonging especially to, a specific person or thing.
   - Simple: Belonging to, or typical of, one certain person or thing.
   - _The composer had a particular harmonic style that critics recognized instantly._
   - _This region's wines have a particular flavor drawn from the volcanic soil._
5. Of a person, attentive to detail and hard to satisfy; fastidious.
   - Simple: Hard to please because you care a lot about small things.
   - _My grandmother was particular about which fork went with each course._
   - _Editors who are particular about punctuation can be exhausting to work with._
6. Attentive to detail; minute, circumstantial, and precise in its treatment of a matter.
   - Simple: Very exact and paying close attention to small details.
   - _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._

## Noun

4. One of the small separate points or details that make up something larger.
   - Simple: One small piece of detail in something larger.
   - _Let's go over every particular of the contract before we sign._
   - _The clerk recorded the particulars of each transaction in a ledger._
7. An individual thing or single case rather than a whole class, set against generals or universals.
   - Simple: One single thing by itself, not a whole group of things.
   - _Philosophers debate whether a particular can exist apart from the qualities it shares with others._
   - _Every particular is an instance of some broader category._

## Adjective

8. Known only to a specific person or group; confidential and not meant for general circulation. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Known to only one person or group and kept secret.

## Noun

9. A person's own individual case, interest, or private circumstance. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: A person's own private situation or affairs.

## Other meanings

- (adjective) In logic, of a proposition: affirmed or denied of some members of its subject, at least one, without a claim about every member.
- (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.
- (adjective) In property law, holding an estate of limited duration that precedes a later interest such as a remainder or reversion.

## Origin

It comes from Middle English particuler, borrowed from Anglo-Norman and Middle French, from Late Latin particularis ("partial; separate, individual"), which derives from Latin particula ("a small part"). It is essentially particle plus the suffix -ar.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/particular (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).