Particular vs. Generality

(obsolete) Pertaining only to a part of something; partial.

Specific; discrete; concrete.

Example: ‘I couldn't find the particular model you asked for, but I hope this one will do.’; ‘We knew it was named after John Smith, but nobody knows which particular John Smith.’;

Specialised; characteristic of a specific person or thing.

Example: ‘I don't appreciate your particular brand of cynicism.’;

(obsolete) Known only to an individual person or group; confidential.

Distinguished in some way; special (often in negative constructions).

Example: ‘My five favorite places are, in no particular order, New York, Chicago, Paris, San Francisco and London.’; ‘I didn't have any particular interest in the book.’; ‘He brought no particular news.’; ‘She was the particular belle of the party.’;

(comparable) Of a person, concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; precise; fastidious.

Example: ‘He is very particular about his food and if it isn't cooked to perfection he will send it back.’; ‘Women are more particular about their appearance.’;

Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise.

Example: ‘a full and particular account of an accident’;

(legal) Containing a part only; limited.

Example: ‘a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder’;

(legal) Holding a particular estate.

Example: ‘a particular tenant’;

(logic) Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject.

Example: ‘a particular proposition, opposed to "universal", e.g. (particular affirmative) "Some men are wise"; (particular negative) "Some men are not wise".’;

A small individual part of something larger; a detail, a point.

(obsolete) A person's own individual case.

A particular case; an individual thing as opposed to a whole class. (Opposed to generals, universals.)

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; as, the particular stars of a constellation.

Example: ‘[Make] each particular hair to stand an end,Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.’; ‘Seken in every halk and every herneParticular sciences for to lerne.’;

Of or pertaining to a single person, class, or thing; belonging to one only; not general; not common; hence, personal; peculiar; singular.

Example: ‘Wheresoever one plant draweth such a particular juice out of the earth.’;

Separate or distinct by reason of superiority; distinguished; important; noteworthy; unusual; special; as, he brought no particular news; she was the particular belle of the party.

Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise; as, a full and particular account of an accident; hence, nice; fastidious; as, a man particular in his dress.

Containing a part only; limited; as, a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder.

Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject; as, a particular proposition; - opposed to universal: e. g. (particular affirmative) Some men are wise; (particular negative) Some men are not wise.

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; as, the particulars of a story.

Example: ‘Particulars which it is not lawful for me to reveal.’; ‘It is the greatest interest of particulars to advance the good of the community.’;

Special or personal peculiarity, trait, or character; individuality; interest, etc.

Example: ‘For his particular I'll receive him gladly.’; ‘If the particulars of each person be considered.’; ‘Temporal blessings, whether such as concern the public . . . or such as concern our particular.’;

One of the details or items of grounds of claim; - usually in the pl.; also, a bill of particulars; a minute account; as, a particular of premises.

Example: ‘The reader has a particular of the books wherein this law was written.’;

a fact about some part (as opposed to general);

Example: ‘he always reasons from the particular to the general’;

a small part that can be considered separately from the whole;

Example: ‘it was perfect in all details’;

unique or specific to a person or thing or category;

Example: ‘the particular demands of the job’; ‘has a paraticular preference for Chinese art’; ‘a peculiar bond of sympathy between them’; ‘an expression peculiar to Canadians’; ‘rights peculiar to the rich’; ‘the special features of a computer’; ‘my own special chair’;

separate and distinct from others;

Example: ‘an exception in this particular case’;

separate and distinct from others of the same group or category;

Example: ‘interested in one particular artist’; ‘a man who wishes to make a particular woman fall in love with him’;

surpassing what is common or usual or expected;

Example: ‘he paid especial attention to her’; ‘exceptional kindness’; ‘a matter of particular and unusual importance’; ‘a special occasion’; ‘a special reason to confide in her’; ‘what's so special about the year 2000?’;

first and most important;

Example: ‘his special interest is music’; ‘she gets special (or particular) satisfaction from her volunteer work’;

exacting especially about details;

Example: ‘a finicky eater’; ‘fussy about clothes’; ‘very particular about how her food was prepared’;

providing specific details or circumstances;

Example: ‘a particular description of the room’;

used to single out an individual member of a specified group or class

Example: ‘the action seems to discriminate against a particular group of companies’;

denoting a proposition in which something is asserted of some but not all of a class.

especially great or intense

Example: ‘when handling or checking cash the cashier should exercise particular care’;

insisting that something should be correct or suitable in every detail; fastidious

Example: ‘she is very particular about cleanliness’;

a detail

Example: ‘he is wrong in every particular’;

detailed information about someone or something

Example: ‘a clerk took the woman's particulars’;

an individual item, as contrasted with a universal quality

Example: ‘universals can be simultaneously exemplified by different particulars in different places’;

In metaphysics, particulars or individuals are usually contrasted with universals. Universals concern features that can be exemplified by various different particulars.

(uncountable) The quality of being general.

(countable) A generalization.

Example: ‘He was very vague, speaking only in generalities.’;

The state of being general; the quality of including species or particulars.

That which is general; that which lacks specificalness, practicalness, or application; a general or vague statement or phrase.

Example: ‘Let us descend from generalities to particulars.’; ‘The glittering and sounding generalities of natural right which make up the Declaration of Independence.’;

The main body; the bulk; the greatest part; as, the generality of a nation, or of mankind.

an idea having general application;

Example: ‘he spoke in broad generalities’;

the quality of being general or widespread or having general applicability

a statement or principle having general rather than specific validity or force

Example: ‘he confined his remarks to generalities’;

the quality or state of being general

Example: ‘policy should be formulated at an appropriate level of generality’;

the majority

Example: ‘his service was better than that offered by the generality of doctors’;