technicalityn.
/ˌtɛknᵻˈkalᵻti/, U.S. /ˌtɛknəˈkælədi/ 1.
a. A technical issue, detail, or term belonging to a particular field. Usually in plural.
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1764 D. Hartley Budget 17 They are so involved in technicalities, that they cannot see a thing unless it be in a mist.
1785 W. Pitt Reply to Mr. Orde 35 As there are some men in the world..who cannot understand a subject so clearly when enveloped in all the technicalities of parliamentary discussion.., I shall proceed to form a very brief abstract of the assertions.
1859 T. J. Gullick & J. Timbs Painting 190 Various other technicalities and artistic appliances may also be explained.
1873 F. Hall Mod. Eng. 172 What we have long and loosely called synonyms. Note, The exact technicality is homœosemants.
1883 American 7 184 A mastership of the technicalities of their work.
1935 D. Pilley Climbing Days i. 17 You really do feel suspended over the valley with nothing but air below. ‘Exposure’,..to use the climbing technicality, is continuous.
1960 Times 7 Jan. 13/2 Flying, both the mystique and the technicalities of it, plays its part.
2001 S. Walton You heard it through Grapevine ii. 35 What..is the first quality to strike somebody who admits to knowing nothing at all of these technicalities as indicating a wine that is clearly a cut above?
b. A point or a detail of a set of rules; spec. a minor legal point, esp. when considered as trivial or when used to evade the intention of the law. Also in extended use.
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the mind > language > a language > register > [noun] > jargon > word in
terma1387
trash name1603
technic1764
technicality1787
technicism1799
buzz-phrase1977
fuzzword1983
the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skill or art > technical methods or qualities > technical detail(s)
technicality1787
technic1797
technicals1863
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > [noun] > quality of being specific or detailed > a detail or particular > technical
technic1764
technicality1787
technicism1799
1787 Articles against Sir Elijah Impey 69 Where an error against the forms and technicalities of British law should fail to reach them, he was determined that they should not escape the perverted interpretation of their own.
1814 W. Scott Waverley III. v. 60 A sort of martinet attention to the minutiæ and technicalities of discipline. View more context for this quotation
1863 W. Phillips Speeches vii. 181 Lawyers, bound by quiddling technicalities.
1911 Rep. Comm. Employers' Liability (New Jersey) 10 In order..to prevent the nonsuiting of the injured employe on a mere technicality..we recommend the modification of the present law.
1954 Jrnl. Operations Res. Soc. Amer. 2 350 Loss of the ball through an out-of-bounds, or some other technicality, is an operational loss or abort.
1997 T. Naqvi in M. Shamsie Dragonfly in Sun 326 The years between us were a mere technicality; we were friends.
2002 S. Holmes B-More Careful ix. 107 He found a loophole, a technicality in the case, thus allowing Black to slip through the cracks of the system.
2. The state or quality of being technical; the use of technical terms or methods.
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the world > action or operation > ability > skill or skilfulness > [noun] > skill or art > technical methods or qualities
technicality1776
technica1782
technic1797
matériel1814
technique1817
technology1829
technics1850
technicity1933
the world > relative properties > kind or sort > individual character or quality > the quality of being specific > [noun] > quality of being specific or detailed > technical quality
technicality1776
technicalism1808
technism1864
1776 J. Bentham Fragm. on Govt. Pref. p. xxxvii Fiction, tautology, technicality, circuity, irregularity, inconsistency remain.
1792 Times 18 July 3/3 The opinion of the Judges, wrapped up as it was, in all the profound technicality and dark mysteries of the law.
1857 J. Toulmin Smith Parish (new ed.) 266 The case is a very simple one, when divested of technicality.
1863 C. C. Clarke Shakespeare-characters iii. 88 He dilates upon the weapons..with an accurate and professor-like technicality.
1917 A. S. Pringle-Pattison Idea of God x. 192 This is what an American Realist, in a phrase worthy of Kant, in its full-flavoured technicality, has dubbed ‘the ego-centric predicament’.
1957 W. J. M. Mackenzie & J. W. Grove Central Admin. in Brit. vii. 106 The work of scientists is affected by considerations of security.., and in any case its technicality makes it difficult to assess.
2006 Eventing Feb. 32/1 The courses are full up novice tracks, but of intermediate technicality and the distances are built for horses.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2009; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1764