Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of, belonging to, or associated with a specific person, group, thing, or category; not general or universal.
  • adjective Distinctive among others of the same group, category, or nature; noteworthy or exceptional.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or providing details; precise.
  • adjective Attentive to or concerned with details or niceties, often excessively so; fussy.
  • adjective Logic Encompassing some but not all of the members of a class or group. Used of a proposition.
  • noun An individual item, fact, or detail.
  • noun Logic A particular proposition.
  • idiom (in particular) Particularly; especially.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or concerning a part; pertaining to some and not to all; special; not general.
  • Individual; single; special; apart from others; considered separately.
  • Properly belonging to a single person, place, or thing; peculiar; specially characteristic: as, the particular properties of a plant.
  • Hence Personal; private; individual.
  • Having something that eminently distinguishes; worthy of attention and regard; specially noteworthy; not ordinary; unusual;notable; striking.
  • Attentive to or noting details; minute in examination; careful.
  • Containing or emphasizing details; minute;circumstantial; detailed: as, a full and particular account of an accident.
  • Peculiar; singular; standing out from what is general or ordinary, especially in the way of showing pointed personal attention.
  • Nice in taste; precise; fastidious: as, a man very particular in his diet or dress.
  • In logic, not general; not referring to the whole extent of a class, but only to some individual or individuals in it.
  • =Syn. 1–3. Separate, distinctive.
  • 3 and Peculiar, etc. see special.
  • Circumstantial, etc. See minute.
  • 9, Exact, scrupulous.
  • noun A single instance or matter; a single point or circumstance; a distinct, separate, or minute part or detail.
  • noun A specialist; one who devotes himself to doing things on his own account and not in partnership.
  • noun Private account or interest; personal interest or concern; part; portion; account.
  • noun Individual state or character; special peculiarity.
  • noun A minute and detailed account; a minute: as, a particular of premises; a particular of a plaintiff's demand, etc.
  • noun Something specially made for, belonging to, or the choice of a person: as, he drank a glass of his own particular.
  • To particularize.
  • noun A humorous name for a London fog.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A separate or distinct member of a class, or part of a whole; an individual fact, point, circumstance, detail, or item, which may be considered separately.
  • noun obsolete Special or personal peculiarity, trait, or character; individuality; interest, etc.
  • noun (Law) One of the details or items of grounds of claim; -- usually in the pl.; also, a bill of particulars; a minute account.
  • noun See under Bill.
  • noun specially; specifically; peculiarly; particularly; especially.
  • noun to relate or describe in detail or minutely.
  • adjective Relating to a part or portion of anything; concerning a part separated from the whole or from others of the class; separate; sole; single; individual; specific.
  • adjective Of or pertaining to a single person, class, or thing; belonging to one only; not general; not common; hence, personal; peculiar; singular.
  • adjective Separate or distinct by reason of superiority; distinguished; important; noteworthy; unusual; special
  • adjective Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise; ; hence, nice; fastidious.
  • adjective Containing a part only; limited.
  • adjective Holding a particular estate.
  • adjective (Logic) Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject
  • adjective See under Average.
  • adjective one of a branch of the Baptist denomination the members of which hold the doctrine of a particular or individual election and reprobation.
  • adjective (Law) a lien, or a right to retain a thing, for some charge or claim growing out of, or connected with, that particular thing.
  • adjective the doctrine that the purpose, act, and provisions of redemption are restricted to a limited number of the human race. See Calvinism.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective obsolete Pertaining only to a part of something; partial.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English particuler, from Old French, from Late Latin particulāris, from Latin particula, diminutive of pars, part-, part; see part.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Anglo-Norman particuler, Middle French particuler, particulier, and their source, Late Latin particularis ("partial; separate, individual"), from Latin particula ("(small) part"). Compare particle.

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Examples

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  • As Emily of New Moon writes in her childish journal: "My aunts are very perticular". A defining characteristic of Victorian aunts.

    April 11, 2009

  • See love comments

    March 26, 2012