[Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/specimen.html)

[home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [dictionaries](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/) / [The school dictionary](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/) / specimen

[← S](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/S/)

# specimen

«specimen» in Mova's school dictionary: **one example of a plant, animal, rock or other thing that…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a specimen, specimens)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A specimen is one example of a plant, animal, rock or other thing that is collected and studied, for example in a museum or lab. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#m1)

2) A specimen is a small amount of blood, urine or other body matter that a doctor tests. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#m2)

3) (informal, joking) A «fine specimen» is a good or funny example of a person or animal. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#m3)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons specimens are collected, labelled, measured and looked at under a microscope; museums keep specimens of fossils, insects and birds. In health it is a sample a doctor tests. Phrases: a specimen jar, a rock specimen, collect specimens, a fine specimen.

### examples

- We collected leaf specimens for our science project. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x1)
- The museum has a specimen of a giant beetle. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x2)
- The nurse asked for a urine specimen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x3)
- Look at the specimen under the microscope. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x4)
- That dinosaur bone is a rare specimen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x5)
- Each rock specimen was labelled with its name and where it was found. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x6)
- What a fine specimen of a pumpkin! [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x7)
- I should have liked to preserve a specimen. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/#x8)

### note

Plural: specimens. Stress on the first syllable: SPEH-si-men. «Specimen» and «sample» are close; a sample is usually a small part taken from something bigger. In maths problems: «each box holds 12 specimens» — count them like other objects.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «specimen» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/S/specimen/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.