Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner's English Dictionary - specifically

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. You use specifically to emphasize that something is given special attention and considered separately from other things of the same kind. ...the first nursing home designed specifically for people with AIDS... We haven’t specifically targeted school children. ...the only book specifically about that event. ADV: ADV with v c darkgreen]emphasis 2. You use specifically to add something more precise or exact to what you have already said. ...the Christian, and specifically Protestant, religion. ...brain cells, or more specifically, neurons. ADV: ADV with group 3. You use specifically to indicate that something has a restricted nature, as opposed to being more general in nature. ...a specifically female audience... This is a European, and not a specifically British, problem. ADV: ADV adj 4. If you state or describe something specifically, you state or describe it precisely and clearly. I specifically asked for this steak rare. ADV: ADV with v