■ adjective
1》 denoting an individual member of a specified group or class.
2》 especially great or intense: exercise ~ care when checking cash.
3》 fastidious about something.
4》 Logic denoting a proposition in which something is asserted of some but not all of a class. Contrasted with universal .
■ noun
1》 a detail.
2》 Philosophy an individual item, as contrasted with a universal quality.
Phrases
in ~ used to show that a statement applies to one person or thing more than any other.
Origin
ME: from OFr. particuler , from L. ~is , from particula 'small part'.