Particular Meaning
/pəˈtɪk.jʊ.lə/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
adjPertaining only to a part of something; partial.
adjSpecific; discrete; concrete.
Sentence Examples
Some knowledge of foreign languages, of Spanish in particular, is essential.
I have nothing particular to say.
There is one particular patient I'd like you to see.
CEFR Practice Quiz
She has a very ____ taste in music, only liking obscure bands from the 1980s.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She had a ____ fondness for old jazz records and spent weekends browsing through secondhand shops.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English particuler, from Anglo-Norman particuler, Middle French particuler, particulier, from Late Latin particularis (“partial; separate, individual”), from Latin particula (“(small) part”). Equivalent to particle + -ar. Compare particle.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"I could a tale unfold whose lightest word / Would harrow up thy soul, freeze thy young blood, / Make thy two eyes, like stars, start from their spheres, / Thy knotted and combined locks to part / And each particular hair to stand on end"
— c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene v]:
"wheresoever one plant draweth such a particular juice out of the earth"
— 1625, Francis [Bacon], “Of Gardens”, in The Essayes […], 3rd edition, London: […] Iohn Haviland for Hanna Barret, →OCLC:
"or these domesticke and particular broiles, Are not the question heere."
— c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i]:
"There is a scraper as well as a mat, and Mrs. Challenger is most particular."
— 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed:
"a particular tenant"
— 1765–1769, William Blackstone, Commentaries on the Laws of England, (please specify |book=I to IV), Oxford, Oxfordshire: […] Clarendon Press, →OCLC:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
She has a very ____ taste in music, only liking obscure bands from the 1980s.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She had a ____ fondness for old jazz records and spent weekends browsing through secondhand shops.