vi-śeṣa m. (once in [Pañcat.] n.; ifc. f(A). ) distinction, difference between (two gen., two loc., or gen. and instr.), [GṛŚrS.]; [MBh.] &c.
characteristic difference, peculiar mark, special property, speciality, peculiarity, [Mn.]; [MBh.] &c.
a kind, species, individual (e.g. vṛkṣa-v°, a species of tree, in comp. often also = special, peculiar, particular, different, e.g. chando-v°, ‘a particular metre’, viśeṣa-maṇḍana, ‘a peculiar ornament’; argha-viśeṣāḥ, ‘different prices’), [MBh.]; [Kāv.] &c.
(pl.) various objects, [Megh.]
distinction, peculiar merit, excellence, superiority (in comp. often = excellent, superior, choice, distinguished, e.g. ākṛti-v°, ‘an excellent form’ ; cf. viśeṣa-pratipatti), [Mn.]; [MBh.] &c.
(in gram.) a word which defines or limits the meaning of another word (cf. vi-śeṣaka and vi-śeṣaṇa)
(in phil.) particularity, individuality, essential difference or individual essence (with the Vaiśeṣikas the 5th category or Padārtha, belonging to the 9 eternal substances or Dravyas, viz. soul, time, place, ether, and the 5 atoms of earth, water, light, air, and mind, which are said to be so essentially different that one can never be the other), [IW. 66] &c.
(in medicine) a favourable turn or crisis of a sickness, [Suśr.]
(in rhet.) statement of difference or distinction, individualization, variation, [Kuval.] (cf. viśeṣokti)
a sectarian mark, any mark on the forehead (= tilaka), [L.]
(in geom.) the hypotenuse, [Śulbas.]
N. of the primary elements or Mahā-bhūtas (q.v.), [MaitrUp.]
the earth as an element, [BhP.]
the mundane egg, [ib.]
= virāj, [ib.]
vi-śeṣa mf(A)n. extraordinary, abundant, [Ragh. ii, 14] (B. viśeṣāt for viśeṣā)
vi-śeṣa &c. See p. 990, col. 2.