Quiddity \Quid"di*ty\, n.; pl. Quiddities. [LL. quidditas, fr.
L. quid what, neut. of quis who, akin to E. who: cf. F.
quiddit['e].]
1. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a
thing; that which answers the question, Quid est? or, What
is it? " The degree of nullity and quiddity." --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]
The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry
as distinguished from prose. --De Quincey.
[1913 Webster]
2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble.
[1913 Webster]
We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now.
--Coleridge.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48
quiddity
n 1: an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant
distinctions or objections [syn: quibble, cavil]
2: the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and
makes it different from any other [syn: haecceity]
WordNet (r) 2.0
40 Moby Thesaurus words for "quiddity":
axiom, cavil, center, core, dodge, elixir, essence, essential,
flower, focus, fundamental, gist, gravamen, heart, hypostasis,
inner essence, jesuitism, kernel, marrow, meat, nub, nucleus,
nuts and bolts, pith, postulate, principle, quibble, quid, quillet,
quintessence, quip, quirk, quodlibet, sap, shuffle, soul, spirit,
stuff, substance, the nitty-gritty
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0
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