Selectivity

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Look up Selectivity in
Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

The word selectivity has several meanings:

  • Selectivity, the ability to notice/distinguish small differences. Also the words selectiveness, refinement and discrimination are used. Discrimination is also a cultural term.
  • Electronic selectivity
  • In a database index, a measure for how many records will be retrieved for a given value of an attribute.
  • In natural sciences selectivity characterises either how selective reactions occur amongst several pathways which are typical in particular for organic reactions; or selectivity characterises how selective one particular compound is recognized, or bound, by something else, e.g. by a protein, in a supramolecular host-guest complex, or by parts of a sensor. High selectivity is often called specificity.
  • Selectivity (pharmacology) in pharmacology it is the preference of a drug for one mechanism of action over others that cause side effects.
Disambiguation Notice This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the same title. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article.
Note: This page may need to be cleaned up to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. See WikiProject Disambiguation for more information.