DictionaryAI

specify

verb
USSPES-uh-fy/ˈspɛs.əˌfaɪ/UKSPES-i-fy/ˈspɛs.ɪ.faɪ/

Formsspecifies, specifying, specified

4 meanings of specify

Practice

  1. 1
    verbtransitive
    To state something explicitly, in detail, or as a condition.

    The contract specifies that payment is due within thirty days.

    You must specify your dietary requirements when booking.

    Similarstate, stipulate, indicate, detail, define

    Note

    The core sense, and the one the word arrived with: Middle English specifien, through Old French or straight from Medieval Latin specificō, built on specificus, "specific." It has long been a word of documents. William Paston in 1425 writes of what "is specified in the seyd instruccion." It takes either a noun (specify your requirements) or a that-clause (the contract specifies that…). In contracts it usually sets a condition rather than merely describing one.

  2. 2
    verbtransitive
    To name or include something as a required item within a formal specification.

    The blueprint specifies fire-rated doors throughout the corridor.

    Designers specify low-energy fittings to meet the building code.

    Similarrequire, prescribe, stipulate, mandate

    Note

    A word from design and procurement, where the object is a chosen product or standard rather than a piece of information. Architects specify fire-rated doors, and Pip Dunn, writing in RAIL in 2023, blames whoever "is specifying the standard of seats" on trains. Unlike the general "state in detail" sense, the choice here usually binds whoever builds or supplies the thing.

  3. 3
    verbtransitive
    To cause or bring about a particular, specific result.

    In genetics, a sequence of bases specifies a particular amino acid.

    Warm or cool nest temperatures specify whether the turtle eggs hatch as males or females.

    Similardetermine, encode, dictate, govern

Less common meaning

  1. 4
    verbobsoleteintransitive
    To speak explicitly or in detail, often about a particular subject.

    The witness began to specify of the events leading up to the quarrel.

    In his letters he specified of his hopes for the new colony.

    Note

    Here the verb stood without an object and was used to talk about a subject, usually followed by of. To specify of a thing was to speak of it in detail, and Cursor Mundi already uses the verb this way around 1300. The construction is long obsolete. Modern English uses the transitive "state explicitly" sense instead (specify the terms), or simply speaks of the matter. Keep specify of for imitations of older prose.

Practice

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Origin

It comes from Middle English specifien, from Old French specifier (also especefier) or directly from Medieval Latin specificō, from specificus meaning "specific."