Specimen

//ˈspɛsɪmɪn// noun

noun ·Uncommon ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    An individual instance that represents a class; an example.

    "early specimens of the art of Picasso"

  2. 2
    a bit of tissue or blood or urine that is taken for diagnostic purposes wordnet
  3. 3
    An individual instance that represents a class; an example.; A banknote printed for distribution to central banks to aid in the recognition of banknotes from a country other than their own
  4. 4
    an example regarded as typical of its class wordnet
  5. 5
    An individual instance that represents a class; an example.; A postage stamp sent to postmasters and postal administrations so that they are able to identify valid stamps and to avoid forgeries
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    An individual instance that represents a class; an example.; An unpleasant or contemptible person. derogatory
  2. 7
    A sample, especially one used for diagnostic analysis.
  3. 8
    An eligible man. humorous

Synonyms

All synonyms
sampleepitomecasecase historycase in pointcopy

Example

More examples

"The end of which there were two little sketches of rhetoric and logic, the latter finishing with a specimen of a dispute in the Socratic method."

Etymology

From Latin specimen (“mark, sign, example”), from speciō (“observe, watch”).

Related phrases

specimen bagspecimen signaturetype specimenscientific item

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.