specification

nounC1Rare in speech; mostly a word you read · #13,355 of 15,258mostly written

Other forms: specifications

A specification is a precise statement of what is required. Write the specification, to specification, a technical specification.

It is the document that decides every later argument, since anything not in the specification was not agreed. Built to specification means built to what was written rather than to what anybody hoped for.

Definitions of specification

1nounspecificationA precise statement of what is required.C1
“The new bridge was built to a strict specification so it could survive earthquakes.”

specification is a statement.

Where it comes from

Medieval Latin specificatio comes from specificare, to state particularly, from species, a kind.

Middle French
specification
English, today
specification

From Middle French specification, from Medieval Latin - specificationem (accusative of specificatio).

Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA

Practise this word

specification in the wild

The Bluetooth SIG oversees the development of the specification, manages the qualification program, and protects the trademarks.
Bluetooth
The JVM is detailed by a specification that formally describes what is required in a JVM implementation.
Java virtual machine
The SVG specification is an open standard developed by the World Wide Web Consortium since 1999.
SVG
The original SMILES specification was initiated in the 1980s.
Simplified Molecular Input Line Entry System
The latest SUS consists of two parts: the base specifications technically identical to POSIX, and the X/Open Curses specification.
Single UNIX Specification

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From Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0. These sentences were written by other people about their own subjects; they are here to show the word at work, not as anybody’s opinion.

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