I. |karə̇ktə|ristik, -rēk-, -tēk also |ker- adjective
Etymology: Greek charaktēristikos, from charaktēr + -istikos -istic
: belonging to or especially typical or distinctive of the character or essential nature of
the gaiety characteristic of children on a holiday
the white cliffs characteristic of the coast at Dover
a poetic style characteristic of the epic
folklore is characteristic only of the group which creates it — Abram Kardiner
Synonyms:
characteristic , individual , peculiar , and distinctive all describe special or identifying qualities or traits. characteristic often stresses the typical nature of the qualities mentioned but is likely also to indicate that they distinguish the item described
the dispersed settlement, large plantations, loose government, and individualism characteristic of the South, as compact village communities were characteristic of New England — S.E.Morison & H.S.Commager
having nothing in them that is characteristic, or that discriminates them from the letters of any other young man — William Cowper
individual stresses distinguishing or identifying qualities
the individual idiosyncrasies of each member of the great family — Sherwood Anderson
his letters to her … are a simple, perfectly individual, daily record of a great passion — Arthur Symons
peculiar , sometimes interchangeable with individual , may stress the uncommon and may have a wider application and less force
in these aspects or parts of his work we pretend to find what is individual, what is the peculiar essence of the man — T.S.Eliot
the product of a force which was not peculiar to England but was operative in England and in France simultaneously — A.J.Toynbee
habits both universal among mankind and peculiar to individuals — F.H.Allport
distinctive , less individualizing than peculiar or individual indicates uncommon distinguishing characteristics, often praiseworthy ones
it is rather the exquisite craftsmanship of France … that has given to free verse … its most distinctive qualities — J.L.Lowes
lacks distinctive personal traits — M.R.Cohen
II. noun
( -s )
1. : a trait, quality, or property or a group of them distinguishing an individual, group, or type : that which characterizes or is characteristic
the Welsh characteristics are indelibly stamped — Wilfrid Goatman
the usual characteristics of matter — mass, rigidity, etc. — A.S.Eddington
reptilian characteristics
2. physics
a. : any of the variables pertaining to the normal performance of a device (as the grid voltage, plate current, or tube resistance of a vacuum tube or the voltage and watt rating of a lamp)
b. : characteristic curve
3. : the integral part of a common logarithm, being for a number greater than unity one less than the number of digits to the left of the decimal point, and for a number less than unity negative and numerically one more than the number of zeros between the decimal point and the first digit
III. noun
: the smallest positive integer n which for an operation in a ring, integral domain, or field yields 0 when any element is used n times with the operation and which is arbitrarily denoted by 0 or ∞ if no such integer exists