difficult to penetrate; incomprehensible to one of ordinary understanding or knowledge; "the professor's lectures were so abstruse that students tended to avoid them"; "a deep metaphysical theory"; "some recondite problem in historiography"
a medicine that has a mitigating effect on a specific disease; "quinine is a specific for malaria"
stated explicitly or in detail; "needed a specific amount"
(sometimes followed by `to') applying to or characterized by or distinguishing something particular or special or unique; "rules with specific application"; "demands specific to the job"; "a specific and detailed account of the accident"
being or affecting a disease produced by a particular microorganism or condition; used also of stains or dyes used in making microscope slides; "quinine is highly specific for malaria"; "a specific remedy"; "a specific stain is one having a specific affinity for particular structural elements"
relating to or distinguishing or constituting a taxonomic species; "specific characters"
having or showing knowledge and skill and aptitude; "adept in handicrafts"; "an adept juggler"; "an expert job"; "a good mechanic"; "a practiced marksman"; "a proficient engineer"; "a lesser-known but no less skillful composer"; "the effect was achieved by skillful retouching"
resembling an oracle in obscurity of thought; "the oracular sayings of Victorian poets"; "so enigmatic that priests might have to clarify it"; "an enigmatic smile"
not clear to the understanding; "I didn't grasp the meaning of that enigmatic comment until much later"; "prophetic texts so enigmatic that their meaning has been disputed for centuries"
far more than usual or expected; "an extraordinary desire for approval"; "it was an over-the-top experience"
beyond what is ordinary or usual; highly unusual or exceptional or remarkable; "extraordinary authority"; "an extraordinary achievement"; "her extraordinary beauty"; "enjoyed extraordinary popularity"; "an extraordinary capacity for work"; "an extraordinary session of the legislature"
an enlisted man of the lowest rank; "our prisoner was just a private and knew nothing of value"
concerning things deeply private and personal; "private correspondence"; "private family matters"
confined to particular persons or groups or providing privacy; "a private place"; "private discussions"; "private lessons"; "a private club"; "a private secretary"; "private property"; "the former President is now a private citizen"; "public figures struggle to maintain a private life"
precisely determined or limited or defined; especially fixed by rule or by a specific and constant cause; "a determinate distance"; "a determinate number"; "determinate variations in animals"
not continuing to grow indefinitely at the apex; "determinate growth"
a building where young people receive education; "the school was built in 1932"; "he walked to school every morning"
the process of being formally educated at a school; "what will you do when you finish school?"
a large group of fish; "a school of small glittering fish swam by"
a body of creative artists or writers or thinkers linked by a similar style or by similar teachers; "the Venetian school of painting"
an educational institution; "the school was founded in 1900"
an educational institution's faculty and students; "the school keeps parents informed"; "the whole school turned out for the game"
the period of instruction in a school; the time period when schools is in session; "stay after school"; "he didn't miss a single day of school"; "when the school day was done we would walk home together"
swim in or form a large group of fish; "A cluster of schooling fish was attracted to the bait"
educate in or as if in a school; "The children are schooled at great cost to their parents in private institutions"
implied though not directly expressed; inherent in the nature of something; "an implicit agreement not to raise the subject"; "there was implicit criticism in his voice"; "anger was implicit in the argument"; "the oak is implicit in the acorn"
the form of a word that is used to denote a singleton
being a single and separate person or thing; "can the singular person be understood apart from his culture?"; "every fact in the world might be singular...unlike any other fact and sole of its kind"-William James
grammatical number category referring to a single item or unit
composed of one member, set, or kind
the single one of its kind; "a singular example"; "the unique existing example of Donne's handwriting"; "a unique copy of an ancient manuscript"; "certain types of problems have unique solutions"