characteristic

Meaning

Adj

Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

Noun

1. A distinguishing feature of a person or thing, a part of mental or physical behavior.
2. The integer part of a logarithm.
3. The distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc.).
4. For a given field or ring, a natural number that is either the smallest positive number n such that n instances of the multiplicative identity (1) summed together yield the additive identity (0) or, if no such number exists, the number 0.

Synonyms

feature

quality

attribute

trait

property

nature

peculiarity

character

typical

distinctive

peculiar

mark

representative

appearance

disposition

custom

idiosyncrasy

device characteristic

brand

indication

aspect

sign

specific

point

habit

particular

manner

standard

token

personality

special quality

one’s nature

unique

inclination

idiosyncratic

uniqueness

style

special

specialty

shape

side

performance

pecularity

classic

particularity

type

duty

distinguishing

circumstances

distinctiveness

Translations

caractéristique

caratteristica

Merkmal

característica

Eigenschaft

característica

Charakteristik

caratteristico

özellik

particularité

característica

charakteristisch

qualità

trait

Eigenart

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˌkæɹəktəˈɹɪstɪk/

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χαρακτηριστικός (kharaktēristikós), from χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “a mark, character”). By surface analysis, character + -istic.