The essence, nature, or distinctive peculiarity, of a thing; that which answers the question, Quid est or, What is it " The degree of nullity and quiddity." Bacon. The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose. De Quincey.
A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble. We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now. Coleridge.
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