Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Of or relating to technique.
  • adjective Having or demonstrating special skill or practical knowledge especially in a mechanical or scientific field.
  • adjective Used in or peculiar to a specific field or profession; specialized.
  • adjective Requiring advanced skills or specialized equipment.
  • adjective Of or relating to the practical, mechanical, or industrial arts or to the applied sciences.
  • adjective Of or relating to technology or technological studies.
  • adjective Of or involving electronic or mechanical equipment.
  • adjective Of or relating to information technology.
  • adjective Of, relating to, or employing the methodology of science; scientific.
  • adjective In strict conformance to a law, regulation, or procedure.
  • adjective Strictly or narrowly defined.
  • adjective Based on analysis or principle; theoretical rather than practical.
  • adjective Relating to or based on market indicators, such as trading volume and fluctuations in securities prices, rather than underlying economic factors such as corporate earnings, inflation, and unemployment.
  • noun A technical foul.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Of or pertaining to the mechanical arts, or any particular art, science, profession, or trade; specially appropriate to or characteristic of any art, science, profession, or trade: as, a technical word or phrase; a word taken in a technical sense; a technical difficulty; technical skill; technical schools.
  • Those things which pertain to the practical part of an art or science; technicalities; technical terms; technics.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the useful or mechanic arts, or to any science, business, or the like; specially appropriate to any art, science, or business.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to the useful or mechanic arts, or to any academic, legal, science, engineering, business, or the like terminology with specific and precise meaning or (frequently, as a degree of distinction) shades of meaning; specially appropriate to any art, science or engineering field, or business; as, the words of an indictment must be technical.
  • adjective slang A secretarial way of saying "specific".
  • noun A pickup truck with a gun mounted on it.
  • noun basketball A technical foul: a violation of sportsmanlike conduct, not involving physical contact.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective of or relating to or requiring special knowledge to be understood
  • adjective resulting from or dependent on market factors rather than fundamental economic considerations
  • noun a pickup truck with a gun mounted on it
  • adjective of or relating to technique or proficiency in a practical skill
  • noun (basketball) a foul that can be assessed on a player or a coach or a team for unsportsmanlike conduct; does not usually involve physical contact during play
  • adjective of or relating to a practical subject that is organized according to scientific principles
  • adjective characterizing or showing skill in or specialized knowledge of applied arts and sciences

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Greek tekhnikos, of art, from tekhnē, art; see teks- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin technicus, from Ancient Greek τέχνη ("skill")

Support

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Examples

  • "You may not • work around any technical limitations in the software; • reverse engineer, decompile or disassemble the software, except and only to the extent that applicable law expressly permits, despite this limitation;" This clause completely doesn't apply. "work around any * technical* limitations in the software" well, there weren't any technical limitations, only legal ones.

    TestDriven.NET by Jamie Cansdale Jamie Cansdale 2008

  • Under \’technical information\’ there is nothing technical or informative – and only a phone number – why waste our time?

    PREFAB FRIDAY: The Evolving Énóvo House | Inhabitat 2008

  • On top of that the defendants advocated restrictive interpretation of the term technical provision would not be tolerated in Article 29a paragraph 3 Aw.

    ElOtroLado.net 2010

  • In 2005, Mr. Cuiffo played interviewer John Springer opposite Lypsinka as Joan Crawford in "The Passion of the Crawford," which he described as a technical and spiritual lesson.

    Practicing the Art of Possession Bruce Bennett 2011

  • Using the word "technical" doesn't change the reality if some Treasurys aren't paid on time.

    The Dangers of a Default Position Richard Barley 2011

  • Using the word "technical" doesn't change the reality if some Treasurys aren't paid on time.

    The Dangers of a Default Position Richard Barley 2011

  • MILLS-FRANCIS: Well, what happens with parole violations is they have what they call technical and substantive violations.

    CNN Transcript Jun 16, 2009 2009

  • We characterize things as either being part of nature — biological nutrients — or being part of technology, which we call technical nutrients.

    Buildings That Can Breathe 2008

  • ROESGEN: American says it had to comply with what it calls technical issues raised by the FAA involving wiring in the wheel wells.

    CNN Transcript Apr 11, 2008 2008

  • Seriously, this is what they call technical support?

    Archive 2007-12-01 Elizabeth Kerri Mahon 2007

Comments

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  • Another noun sense:

    At Hoover's request, (Attorney General) Brownell had asked congressional committee chairmen for new laws allowing wiretapping without a warrant. They had said no, time and again. Hoover had asked for the legal authorization for microphone surveillances—bugging, or "technicals," in Bureauspeak—but the lawmakers spurned the request.
    Tim Weiner, Enemies: A History of the FBI (New York: Random House, 2012), p. 192

    July 19, 2017