especial

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Moreover, Anu is referred to as the especial god of Der, and a goddess Eria [179] is worshipped in

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Definitions (8)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. adjective Of special importance or significance; exceptional: an occasion of especial joy.
  2. adjective Relating to or directed toward a particular person, group, or purpose: called his father with especial birthday wishes; gave especial attention to the decorations.
  3. adjective Peculiar to the individual; characteristic: She has an especial fondness for mushrooms.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (3)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The seniors in especial were anxious to distinguish themselves. —  A harum-scarum schoolgirl
  • Sausage or hides or leather is better--especial if wholesale Bonnie Bell was quiet. —  The Man Next Door
  • He had a taste for literature and a longing for travel and military adventure in especial, and for a time he lived a pleasant, free and easy, Bohemian sort of life, if we may use the term Bohemian in describing days that existed long before Henri Murger had given the word its modern application Sidenote: 1763-89--Theobald Wolfe Tone One of the many odd, original ideas which floated like bubbles across Wolfe Tone's fancy was a scheme for founding a sort of military colony in some island in the South Seas, to act as a check upon the designs and enterprises of Spain against the British Empire. —  A History of the Four Georges and of William IV, Volume III (of 4)
  • We can supply back numbers of "The Child's Monthly" and "Monthly Reader" at the above low rate We call the especial attention of School Committees, Teachers, and others to the opportunity here afforded of obtaining the Choicest and Best Illustrated Reading-Matter at a trifling expense. —  The Nursery, Number 164 A Monthly Magazine for Youngest Readers
  • Claudius and Margaret were glad of the rattling talk that delivered them from the burden of saying anything especial, and they both laughed quite naturally at Barker's odd wit. —  Doctor Claudius, A True Story
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

utmost ·  special ·  mutual ·  undue ·  with ·  supreme ·  earthly ·  exceptional ·  outward ·  sole ·  undisguised ·  instinctive
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old French, from Latin speciālis, of a kind, from speciēs, species; see spek- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Early modern English especiall, from Middle English especial, from Old French especial, modern F. spécial = Spanish Portuguese especial = Italian speziale, from Latin specialis, belonging to a particular kind, from species, kind: see species, special.
 

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/ɛsˈpɛʃəl/
by American Heritage

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