Meaning & use

specificity

noun·Academic

The quality of being precise and clearly defined rather than general or vague.

See it in a sentence

The report lacked specificity, so the manager asked for exact figures and dates.

Scientists praised the test's specificity, since it rarely flagged healthy patients as sick.

A note on using this word

In science, specificity describes how well a test avoids false positives, a distinct sense from everyday 'being specific.'

Words with a similar meaning

precisionexactness

Choose a synonym to suit the sentence. Meanings can overlap without being identical.

Words with an opposite meaning

vagueness

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