as in greatness
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Recent Examples of specialness
The real loss is the specialness.
—
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 24 Mar. 2026
Stanton’s disdain for immigrants led her into emergent realms of pseudoscience that would transform into eugenics; her rhetoric about women strayed from the principle of gender equality into essentialist ideas about women’s feminine specialness.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026
At least the quality of cabin materials—the complex leather stitching, the suppleness of the hide, the tasteful integration of carbon-fiber trim—lends the cabin a feeling of specialness that mitigates some of the tech frustrations.
—Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 25 Feb. 2026
And adults reinforced the child's sense of specialness by holding him to a higher standard.
—Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Watson made his biggest scientific discovery as a young man, only 25 years old, and his sense of his own abilities, his own specialness, seemed never to mature beyond a young man’s bravado.
—Kathryn Paige Harden, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
The hair that would otherwise sprout from his postpubescent body has been replaced by the residues of fire—that Promethean symbol of dawning human specialness.
—Harmon Siegel, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
The compliments resulted in a temporary spike in feelings of uniqueness and specialness, demonstrating how praise can inflate ego in the short term – even outside clinical narcissism.
—New Atlas, 19 Sep. 2025
And in the flood, the specialness disappears.
—Chris Schembra, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
Ethan Shanfeld, Variety, 24 Mar. 2026
Stanton’s disdain for immigrants led her into emergent realms of pseudoscience that would transform into eugenics; her rhetoric about women strayed from the principle of gender equality into essentialist ideas about women’s feminine specialness.
—Moira Donegan, New Yorker, 13 Mar. 2026
At least the quality of cabin materials—the complex leather stitching, the suppleness of the hide, the tasteful integration of carbon-fiber trim—lends the cabin a feeling of specialness that mitigates some of the tech frustrations.
—Basem Wasef, Robb Report, 25 Feb. 2026
And adults reinforced the child's sense of specialness by holding him to a higher standard.
—Gail Sheehy, Vanity Fair, 20 Feb. 2026
Watson made his biggest scientific discovery as a young man, only 25 years old, and his sense of his own abilities, his own specialness, seemed never to mature beyond a young man’s bravado.
—Kathryn Paige Harden, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
The hair that would otherwise sprout from his postpubescent body has been replaced by the residues of fire—that Promethean symbol of dawning human specialness.
—Harmon Siegel, Artforum, 1 Oct. 2025
The compliments resulted in a temporary spike in feelings of uniqueness and specialness, demonstrating how praise can inflate ego in the short term – even outside clinical narcissism.
—New Atlas, 19 Sep. 2025
And in the flood, the specialness disappears.
—Chris Schembra, Rolling Stone, 8 Sep. 2025
Recent Examples of Synonyms for specialness
Noun
-
Tolbert’s career numbers – 91 catches, 1,093 yards and 10 touchdowns — bear the weight of sharing the field with greatness.—
Miami Herald,
Miami Herald,
26 Mar. 2026
-
His greatness comes in the art of holding his nation together, not in the exercise of arbitrary power.—
David Brooks,
The Atlantic,
25 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
The mania for ancient Greece and Rome is in ample display among the current descendants of the Nazis, the alt-right more than happy to cosplay their fantasy of classical masculinity and racial exceptionality.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
10 Feb. 2026
-
And just as Shakespeare relentlessly intensified Lear’s individuality, so did Jobs make each gadget more itself, eschewing generic compromise to magnify exceptionality.—
Big Think,
Big Think,
3 Nov. 2025
Noun
-
The standard in Storrs is only excellence.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
29 Mar. 2026
-
Boston College alumni and fans will find our program defined by a standard of excellence, and our team will play an unselfish, tough, and highly competitive brand of basketball.—
Greg Dudek,
Boston Herald,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
For years, the Red Bull driver was the benchmark – often cruising through races with rivals unable to challenge his superiority.—
Ben Church,
CNN Money,
30 Mar. 2026
-
America has gone to war many times with the hubris of superiority.—
Voice of the People,
New York Daily News,
29 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
His relaxed point of view is a far cry from the grandness or the grittiness that marked the work of Western painters past like Frederic Remington or Albert Bierstadt.—
Ray Mark Rinaldi,
Denver Post,
30 Mar. 2026
-
But the grandness of these dreams butts up against the precarity that their dreamers are facing.—
Naomi Fry,
New Yorker,
21 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Situations like this reinforce the importance of responsible ownership, proper training and understanding each individual dog — regardless of breed.—
Tori Mason,
CBS News,
2 Apr. 2026
-
Speakers including County Commission Chairman Mark Jerrell, Juvenile Judge Aretha Blake, and Bridget Happney, senior social services manager at Mecklenburg County Youth and Family Services, spoke about the importance of everyone working together to keep children safe.—
Charlotte Observer,
Charlotte Observer,
1 Apr. 2026
Noun
-
Experimentation is the point right now, not perfection.—
Kirah Tabourn,
Condé Nast Traveler,
28 Mar. 2026
-
He was known for his frequent yelling, a dose of mayhem, and a focus on perfection - all wrapped up in sweetness.—
CBS News,
CBS News,
27 Mar. 2026
Noun
-
Oman has close relations to Tehran, only two Gulf states recognize Israel, and competition between GCC members over supremacy on certain issues is fierce.—
Hadley Gamble,
semafor.com,
19 Mar. 2026
-
Forget scientific exploration under the seas; this is a story about the half-shark son of Marko named Sharko, dolphin supremacy, and a look at Jonathan Swift’s A Modest Proposal that makes the cannibalistic horror of the 300-year-old satire feel brand new.—
Eric Vilas-Boas,
Vulture,
18 Mar. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Specialness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/specialness. Accessed 3 Apr. 2026.
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