technicality

From technical + -ity.

• IPA^(key): /ˌtɛknɪˈkælɪti/

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technicality (countable and uncountable, plural technicalities)

1. The quality or state of being technical.

   Synonym: technicalness

   • 1907 August, Robert W[illiam] Chambers, chapter VIII, in The Younger Set, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, →OCLC:

     At her invitation he outlined for her the succeeding chapters with terse military accuracy ; and what she liked best and best understood was avoidance of that false modesty which condescends, turning technicality into pabulum.

   • 2018, Clarence Green, James Lambert, “Position vectors, homologous chromosomes and gamma rays: Promoting disciplinary literacy through Secondary Phrase Lists”, in English for Specific Purposes, →DOI, page 6:

     Ha and Hyland suggest that technicality is not binary and it is not always possible to say that a word is technical or not.

2. That which is technical, or peculiar to any trade, profession, sect, or the like.

   the technicalities of the sect

   • 1862 January – 1863 January, M[ary] E[lizabeth] Braddon, “Fighting the Battle”, in Aurora Floyd. […], volume I, London: Tinsley Brothers, […], published 1863, →OCLC, page 224:

     [T]he names of places and horses and slangy technicalities of the turf, had interlarded the poor girl's brain-sick babble; […]

3. A minor detail, rule, law, etc., seemingly insignificant to a non-specialist but which has significant consequences in larger matters.

   legal technicality

   • 1948, David K. Breed, The Trial of Christ from Legal and Scriptural Viewpoint, Library of Alexandria, →ISBN, page 8:

     These are some of the "Reversible Errors" on which a new trial can be had and are often spoken of by misinformed business men as "technicalities," as when they say a certain gangster "got off on a technicality" or "got a new trial on a technicality."

   • 1996, Thomas Robert Shannon Broughton, Imperium Sine Fine, Franz Steiner Verlag, →ISBN, page 75:

     Mommsen believed that Claudius had been an augur who was ordered by a chief pontiff Metellus to inaugurate Sulpicius son of Servius as a priest, that Claudius declined on grounds of a religious technicality, that Claudius was subsequently fined by the chief pontiff, and that Claudius appealed the fine.

   • 2002, Robert Scott, Savage, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, page 67:

     Benjamin Gonzales is a suspect in Dondi Johnson's murder - the only suspect we've ever had and the only suspect we ever will have. But at present we don't have a fileable case because of a legal technicality.

   • 2011, Beth Walston-Dunham, Introduction to Law, Cengage Learning, →ISBN, page 554:

     How often do we hear about someone who “got away” with committing a crime or who “got off on a technicality”? This type of remark is common when discussions arise about the shortcomings of the U.S. legal system.

   • 2024 April 25, Gloria Oladipo, “Harvey Weinstein: New York court overturns 2020 rape conviction”, in The Guardian‎^[1], →ISSN:

     In 2021, Pennsylvania’s highest court threw out the sexual assault conviction of Bill Cosby on a legal technicality, after discovering an agreement with a previous prosecutor prevented the actor from being charged in the case.