Special Move

From UltimateMK.com

In Mortal Kombat, a special move is any move that isn't one of the standard moves every character has. A special move would be something like Sub Zero's freeze, Scorpion's Spear, Sindel's Scream, etc.

Special moves in MK3, UMK3, and MKT

In Mortal Kombat 3, Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, and Mortal Kombat Trilogy, special moves have certain special characteristics. If you do a High Punch or Low Punch that causes you to get pushed out of the corner, doing a special move will interrupt this slide with the move. Also, in these games, many special moves have properties that control when they disable. For instance, if you get more than 4 comboed hits with Human Smoke, his spear will disable.