characteristic

[kar-ik-tuh-ris-tik]

adjective

1. Also characteristical. pertaining to, constituting, or indicating the character or peculiar quality of a person or thing; typical; distinctive.

   Red and gold are the characteristic colors of autumn.

   Synonyms: peculiar, special

noun

1. a distinguishing feature or quality.

   Generosity is his chief characteristic.

   Synonyms: trait, property, attribute

2. Mathematics.

   1. the integral part of a common logarithm.

   2. the exponent of 10 in a number expressed in scientific notation.

   3. the smallest positive integer n such that each element of a given ring added to itself n times results in 0.

characteristic

/ ˌkærɪktəˈrɪstɪk /

noun

1. a distinguishing quality, attribute, or trait

2. maths

   1. the integral part of a common logarithm, indicating the order of magnitude of the associated number Compare mantissa

      the characteristic of 2.4771 is 2

   2. another name for exponent, used esp in number representation in computing

adjective

1. indicative of a distinctive quality, etc; typical

characteristic

1. The part of a logarithm to the base 10 that is to the left of the decimal point. For example, if 2.749 is a logarithm, 2 is the characteristic.

2. Compare mantissa

Other Word Forms

• characteristically adverb
• noncharacteristic adjective
• noncharacteristically adverb
• quasi-characteristic adjective
• quasi-characteristically adverb
• uncharacteristic adjective
• uncharacteristically adverb

Word History and Origins

Origin of characteristic¹

First recorded in 1655–65; from Greek charaktēristikós ( character, -istic )

Synonym Study

See feature.

Example Sentences

The garden is characteristic of Mr. Oudolf, creator of the landscape design for New York’s High Line.

Read more on Wall Street Journal

However, private-credit secondaries come with their own unique set of characteristics.

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I think they have very similar characteristics to some of the large tier 2 cloud service provider customers.

Read more on Barron's

We looked at the types of deals, at the characteristics of these acquisitions.

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Existing state law requires landlords to maintain certain “standard characteristics” for a dwelling unit including adequate hot and cold running water, heat, and weather proofing.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Related Words

• aspect 
• attribute 
• component 
• essence 
• flavor 
• nature 
• peculiarity 
• personality 
• quality 
• style 
• symptom 
• temperament 
• tendency 
• tone 
• virtue