Specific means clearly defined, precise, or relating to one particular thing. When your teacher asks for specific examples from a book, she wants exact details: “when Sophie climbed the burning building to rescue the trapped kitten in Chapter 7” rather than “the main character was brave.”

Being specific means narrowing down from broad to particular. If you tell your friend “I like ice cream,” that's general. If you say “I like mint chocolate chip ice cream from the shop on Main Street,” you're being specific. The word helps distinguish between fuzzy, unclear statements and precise, detailed ones.

Scientists use the word in a special way: a species is a specific type of living thing, and we say that penicillin is specific to bacterial infections, meaning it targets those particular problems rather than working on everything.

When someone asks you to be more specific, they want clearer details or more exact information. “We're going somewhere fun this weekend” is vague, while “We're going to the science museum on Saturday at 10 a.m.” is specific. The more specific your communication, the better others can understand exactly what you mean. Notice how specific often pairs with concrete facts: numbers, names, places, times, or particular examples rather than broad generalizations.