Per se

//pɚˈseɪ// adj, adv

Definitions

Adjective
  1. 1
    Positing itself and being a principle of its own determination. not-comparable

    "Hence, God would have to be the immediate per se cause of some natural motions, but not of all. But no known natural motion is without a natural motion as its immediate per se cause."

  2. 2
    That does not leave discretion to the judge to take into account additional factors that could rebut the judgment, deriving the qualification from the statute. not-comparable

    "Until recently Denmark hesitated to adopt a formal per se law, preferring to give more discretion to its judges, but the general practice was to take blood tests and to convict those accused under the classical law if the blood alcohol concentration was greater than 100 mg./100 ml."

Adverb
  1. 1
    Without determination by or involvement of extraneous factors; by its very nature. not-comparable

    "Near-synonyms: by definition, by nature, essentially, in essence, ipso facto, intrinsically; see also Thesaurus:intrinsically"

  2. 2
    In a true or literal sense; as one would expect from the name or description. nonstandard, not-comparable

    "It's not a museum per se, but they do have some interesting artefacts."

  3. 3
    As the principle of its own determination and positing itself. not-comparable

    "Everything not applying per se in one of these two senses is called an accident."

  4. 4
    Not leaving discretion to the judge to take into account additional factors that could rebut the judgment, deriving the qualification from the statute. not-comparable

    "The law makes drunk driving illegal per se."

Adverb
  1. 1
    with respect to its inherent nature wordnet

Etymology

Etymology 1

Borrowed from Latin per sē (“by itself”), from per (“by, through”) and sē (“itself, himself, herself, themselves”).

Etymology 2

Borrowed from Latin per sē (“by itself”), from per (“by, through”) and sē (“itself, himself, herself, themselves”).

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