Quid·di·ty n.; pl. Quiddities
  1. 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.”
     The quiddity or characteristic difference of poetry as distinguished from prose.   --De Quincey.
  2. A trifling nicety; a cavil; a quibble.
     We laugh at the quiddities of those writers now.   --Coleridge.
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