quiddity

1. n. The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it? Source: opted

2. n. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble. Source: opted

3. n. an evasion of the point of an argument by raising irrelevant distinctions or objections Source: wordnet

4. n. the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other Source: wordnet

5. 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. The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose. De Quincey. 2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble. We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. Coleridge. Source: webster

6. n. the essence that makes something the kind of thing it is and makes it different from any other Source: ecdict

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