exceptionality

English

Etymology

From exceptional +‎ -ity.

Noun

exceptionality (countable and uncountable, plural exceptionalities)

1. (uncountable) The quality of being exceptional.

   Synonym: exceptionalness

   • 2005 June 15, Robert Wilonsky, “The Wiz (Film Review)”, in Riverfront Times:

     For all their exceptionality, there is also a numbing sameness to the movies of Hayao Miyazaki.

2. (countable) A thing, condition, or other matter which is exceptional.
   • 1827, “Some Speculations on Literary Pleasures”, in The Gentleman's Magazine, London, vol. 97, pt. 2, p. 118:

     We are fain to ask what is to become of Shakespeare and a host of others, who, with equal originality of thought, have avoided those vagrant exceptionalities of humour.

3. (education) the condition of requiring special schooling for reasons of intellectual giftedness or physical or mental disability
   • 1998, National Joint Committee on Learning Disabilities, "Learning Disabilities: Preservice Preparation of General and Special Education Teachers," Learning Disability Quarterly, vol. 21, no. 3, p. 185,

     Educators who are earning degrees as learning disability specialists should . . . understand the differences between learning disabilities and other exceptionalities.

Derived terms

• twice-exceptionalityultra-excessive

Translations

quality of being exceptional

• Asturian: esceicionalidá f
• Catalan: excepcionalitat f
• Dutch: uitzonderlijkheid (nl) f
• Esperanto: escepteco
• French: exceptionnalité (fr) f
• Galician: excepcionalidade (gl) f
• German: Außergewöhnlichkeit f
• Italian: eccezionalità (it) f
• Portuguese: excecionalidade f (Portugal), excepcionalidade f (Brazil)
• Russian: исключи́тельность (ru) f (isključítelʹnostʹ)
• Spanish: excepcionalidad f

References

• Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., 1989.