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English
Etymology
From technical + -ity.
Pronunciation
Noun
technicality (countable and uncountable, plural technicalities)
- The quality or state of being technical.
- Synonym: technicalness
1907 August, Robert W 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.
- That which is technical, or peculiar to any trade, profession, sect, or the like.
the technicalities of the sect
- 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, →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.