as in greatness
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Recent Examples of specialness
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
That does bring to mind the specialness of painting itself as a discipline.
—Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 5 Oct. 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The hair that would otherwise sprout from his postpubescent body has been replaced by the residues of fire—that Promethean symbol of dawning human specialness.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
Kathryn Paige Harden, The Atlantic, 10 Nov. 2025
That does bring to mind the specialness of painting itself as a discipline.
—Lauren Michele Jackson, New Yorker, 5 Oct. 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The hair that would otherwise sprout from his postpubescent body has been replaced by the residues of fire—that Promethean symbol of dawning human specialness.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
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Acknowledging his greatness does not mean forgetting that his philosophy would have allowed—at least in the short term—the continuation of Black Americans’ second-class citizenship.—
Adam Harris,
The Atlantic,
19 Feb. 2026
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Lane, who helped Wyatt break a 52-year playoff drought, has commanded respect with versatility, elite speed, and all-around offensive greatness.—
Charles Baggarly,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
19 Feb. 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
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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
-
For the next decade, Arthur and Alyssa cycled through coaches and competitions, all in pursuit of excellence.—
Dana O’Neil,
CNN Money,
16 Feb. 2026
-
De Zerbi’s excellence as a coach has never been in doubt but this job ending on a sour note is unfortunate timing.—
Tom Burrows,
New York Times,
14 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
Despite the contradiction, this strategy worked because elites are universally perceived as out of touch with the real world – with privileged and sheltered life experience that begets a sense of superiority.—
Alexa Beck,
Fortune,
15 Feb. 2026
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The result is a battlefield where concealment is harder, decision cycles are faster, and information superiority increasingly depends on who can best collect, process, and act on what their satellites see.—
Atharva Gosavi,
Interesting Engineering,
11 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
In spite of the grandness of the scale and the weight of the house — and Matthieu’s job, his first haute couture collection felt joyous, intimate, meaningful and extremely personal.—
Laure Guilbault,
Vogue,
27 Jan. 2026
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At a time when Germany still had a monarchy, the grandness of the Reichstag’s design was intended to rival any structure the monarchy would build for itself.—
The Editors,
JSTOR Daily,
9 Sep. 2025
Noun
-
That’s definitely not the case with Sam Pollard’s film about Desmond Tutu, whose importance to the ending of apartheid in South African cannot be overstated.—
Frank Scheck,
HollywoodReporter,
18 Feb. 2026
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The proclamation comes during Black History Month and as Philadelphia prepares to mark the nation's 250th anniversary in 2026 — milestones supporters say highlight the importance of inclusion within longstanding civic traditions.—
Eva Andersen,
CBS News,
18 Feb. 2026
Noun
-
This fresh and flavorful bolognese sauce comes together in under an hour and is homemade perfection.—
Nellah Bailey McGough,
Southern Living,
16 Feb. 2026
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And remember, moderation over perfection.—
Rachel Hosie,
SELF,
16 Feb. 2026
Noun
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Around this time, the city-state of Carthage, in what is now Tunisia, was battling with the Roman Republic for supremacy in the Mediterranean.—
Jack Guy,
CNN Money,
20 Feb. 2026
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The pastoralist Maasai people, for instance, who also live in the region, have successfully been vying for supremacy with lions for hundreds of years.—
Literary Hub,
Literary Hub,
18 Feb. 2026
Cite this Entry
“Specialness.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/specialness. Accessed 22 Feb. 2026.
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