NONSPECIFIC

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does nonspecific mean? 

• NONSPECIFIC (adjective)
  The adjective NONSPECIFIC has 1 sense:

1. not caused by a specific agent; used also of staining in making microscope slides

  Familiarity information: NONSPECIFIC used as an adjective is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NONSPECIFIC (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Not caused by a specific agent; used also of staining in making microscope slides

Context example:

nonspecific enteritis

Domain category:

medical specialty; medicine (the branches of medical science that deal with nonsurgical techniques)

pathology (the branch of medical science that studies the causes and nature and effects of diseases)

Antonym:

specific ((sometimes followed by 'to') applying to or characterized by or distinguishing something particular or special or unique)

specific (being or affecting a disease produced by a particular microorganism or condition; used also of stains or dyes used in making microscope slides)

 Context examples 

A radiopharmaceutical composed of the nonspecific perfusion agent ethylglyoxal bis(thiosemicarbazone) (ETS) linked to the beta-emitting, radioisotope copper Cu 62, with potential tumor imaging activity upon positron emitting tomography (PET).

(Copper Cu 62 Ethylglyoxal Bis(thiosemicarbazone), NCI Thesaurus)

A tumor-associated antigen belonging to the family of immunogenic testicular proteins that are aberrantly expressed in human cancers in a lineage-nonspecific fashion.

(NY-ESO-B, NCI Thesaurus)

Myeloid cells (either malignant or non-malignant) do not stain with nonspecific esterase techniques.

(Alpha Naphthyl Butyrate Esterase Staining Method, NCI Thesaurus)

Nonspecific immunomodulating agents, such as BCG and levamisole, affect the immune system in a general way.

(Immunomodulating agent, NCI Dictionary)

Nonspecific immunomodulating agents include BCG and levamisole.

(Nonspecific immunomodulating agent, NCI Dictionary)

Alkaline phosphatase, tissue-nonspecific isozyme (524 aa, ~57 kDa) is encoded by the human ALPL gene.

(Alkaline Phosphatase, Tissue-Nonspecific Isozyme, NCI Thesaurus)

Processes that promote either specific or nonspecific formation of additional tissue mass, typically by cell proliferation.

(Generalized Growth, NCI Thesaurus)

However, the killing exhibited by the cell is nonspecific and the cell does not require antigen/MHC recognition on the target cell.

(Activated Natural Killer Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

Two osteoblast proteins, tissue-nonspecific alkaline phosphatase (TNAP) and plasma cell membrane glycoprotein-1 (PC-1) are involved in this process.

(Bone Mineralization Regulation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

This allele, which encodes 5-aminolevulinate synthase, nonspecific, mitochondrial protein, is involved in both heme biosynthesis and lipid metabolism.

(ALAS1 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)