quiddity

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: quid=di=ty

CIDE DICTIONARY

quiddity, n. [LL. quidditas, fr. L. quid what, neut. of quis who, akin to E. who: cf. F. quiddité.].

•  The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est? or, What is it?  Bacon.  [1913 Webster]

  "The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose."  [1913 Webster]
•  A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble.  [1913 Webster]

  "We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now."  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

quiddity, n. (pl. -ies)
1 Philos. the essence of a person or thing; what makes a thing what it is.
2 a quibble; a trivial objection.

Etymology

med.L quidditas f. L quid what

THESAURUS

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

ROGET THESAURUS

quiddity

Intrinsicality

N intrinsicality, inbeing, inherence, inhesion, subjectiveness, ego, egohood, essence, noumenon, essentialness, essential part, quintessence, incarnation, quiddity, gist, pith, marrow, core, sap, lifeblood, backbone, heart, soul, important part, principle, nature, constitution, character, type, quality, crasis, diathesis, habit, temper, temperament, spirit, humor, grain, disposition, endowment, capacity, capability, moods, declensions, features, aspects, peculiarities, idiosyncrasy, oddity, idiocrasy, diagnostics, derived from within, subjective, intrinsic, intrinsical, fundamental, normal, implanted, inherent, essential, natural, innate, inborn, inbred, ingrained, inwrought, coeval with birth, genetous, haematobious, syngenic, radical, incarnate, thoroughbred, hereditary, inherited, immanent, congenital, congenite, connate, running in the blood, ingenerate, ingenite, indigenous, in the grain, bred in the bone, instinctive, inward, internal, to the manner born, virtual, characteristic, invariable, incurable, incorrigible, ineradicable, fixed, intrinsically, at bottom, in the main, in effect, practically, virtually, substantially, au fond, fairly, character is higher than intellect, come give us a taste of your quality, magnos homines virtute metimur non fortuna, non numero haec judicantur sed pondere, vital spark of heavenly flame.

Wit

N wit, humor, wittiness, sense of humor, attic wit, attic salt, atticism, salt, esprit, point, fancy, whim, drollery, pleasantry, farce, buffoonery, fooling, tomfoolery, shenanigan, harlequinade, broad farce, broad humor, fun, espieglerie, vis comica, jocularity, jocosity, jocoseness, facetiousness, waggery, waggishness, whimsicality, comicality, banter, badinage, retort, repartee, smartness, ready wit, quid- pro-quo, ridicule, jest, joke, jape, jibe, facetiae, levity, quips and cranks, capital joke, canorae nugae, standing jest, standing joke, private joke, conceit, quip, quirk, crank, quiddity, concetto, plaisanterie, brilliant idea, merry thought, bright thought, happy thought, sally, flash of wit, flash of merriment, scintillation, mot, mot pour rire, witticism, smart saying, bon-mot, jeu d'esprit, epigram, jest book, dry joke, quodlibet, cream of the jest, word-play, jeu de mots, play of words, play upon words, pun, punning, double entente, double entendre, quibble, verbal quibble, conundrum, anagram, acrostic, double acrostic, trifling, idle conceit, turlupinade, old joke, tired joke, flat joke, Joe Miller, witty, attic, quick-witted, nimble-witted, smart, jocular, jocose, humorous, facetious, waggish, whimsical, kidding, joking, puckish, playful, merry and wise, pleasant, sprightly, light, spirituel, sparkling, epigrammatic, full of point, ben trovato, comic, zany, madcap, funny, amusing, jokingly, in joke, in jest, in sport, in play, adhibenda est in jocando moderatio, gentle dullness ever loves a joke, leave this keen encounter of our wits, just joking, just kidding, surely you jest!.

& Sophistry

N intuition, instinct, association, hunch, gut feeling, presentiment, premonition, rule of thumb, superstition, astrology, faith (supposition), sophistry, paralogy, perversion, casuistry, jesuitry, equivocation, evasion, chicane, chicanery, quiddet, quiddity, mystification, special pleading, speciousness, nonsense, word sense, tongue sense, false reasoning, vicious reasoning, circular reasoning, petitio principii, ignoratio elenchi, post hoc ergo propter hoc, non sequitur, ignotum per ignotius, misjudgment, false teaching, sophism, solecism, paralogism, quibble, quirk, elenchus, elench, fallacy, quodlibet, subterfuge, subtlety, quillet, inconsistency, antilogy, a delusion, a mockery, and a snare, claptrap, cant, mere words, lame and impotent conclusion, meshes of sophistry, cobwebs of sophistry, flaw in an argument, weak point, bad case, overrefinement, hairsplitting, intuitive, instinctive, impulsive, independent of reason, anterior to reason, gratuitous, hazarded, unconnected, unreasonable, illogical, false, unsound, invalid, unwarranted, not following, inconsequent, inconsequential, inconsistent, absonous, absonant, unscientific, untenable, inconclusive, incorrect, fallacious, fallible, groundless, unproved, non sequitur, it does not follow, deceptive, sophistical, jesuitical, illusive, illusory, specious, hollow, plausible, ad captandum, evasive, irrelevant, weak, feeble, poor, flimsy, loose, vague, irrational, nonsensical, foolish, frivolous, pettifogging, quibbling, finespun, overrefined, at the end of one's tether, au bout de son latin, intuitively, by intuition, illogically, non constat, that goes for nothing.