quiddity : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: quiddity	by the DICT Development Group
2 results for quiddity
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
quiddity n an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections Synonym(s): quibble, quiddity, cavil the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other Synonym(s): quiddity, haecceity
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Quiddity \Quid"dity\, n.; pl. {Quiddities}. [LL. quidditas, fr. L. quid what, neut. of quis who, akin to E. who: cf. F. quiddit[82].] 1. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it? [bd] The degree of nullity and quiddity.[b8] --Bacon. The quiddity* or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose. --De Quincey. 2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble. We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. --Coleridge.