characteristic

American  

[kar-ik-tuh-ris-tik] / ˌkær ɪk təˈrɪs tɪk /

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

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noun

• characteristics
  plural

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 British  

/ 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

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adjective

1. indicative of a distinctive quality, etc; typical

characteristic Scientific  

/ kăr′ək-tə-rĭs′tĭk /

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

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Synonym Usage

See feature.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

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

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• characteristics
  plural

Etymology

Origin of characteristic

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

Explanation

If something is a characteristic of someone or something, it is a feature you would expect. A characteristic of classical-style architecture is large stone columns. A characteristic of poodles is their pom-pom like tails. A characteristic feature needn't just be a something physically apparent, it can describe a type of personality or atmosphere as well, as in: "The characteristic of all funeral homes is their gloomy air." As their spelling and meaning implies, there is a close link between the words characteristic and character, meaning the essential nature of a thing, and in fact both words come from the ancient Greek kharackter, meaning a "symbol or imprint on the soul."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

characteristic characteristics

This is probably the most important characteristic of a refresher.

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

He had willed it into existence in his characteristic way, fast and without faultfinding inspectors to impede his vision.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

Petersen-Smith said that, in the context of the global war on terror, the term low boil is useful because it describes a type of second stage that has been characteristic of recent U.S. wars.

From Salon ● Jul. 6, 2026

Arguing over the meaning of Jewish identity is a characteristic element of Jewish culture.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 6, 2026

She swallowed and clenched her fists; he did not know, yet, how characteristic it was of her.

From "Impossible Creatures" by Katherine Rundell

Within a day, observations from the Liverpool Telescope in the Canary Islands and NASA's Swift satellite in space showed that the object displayed the expected characteristics of an LFBOT.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026

Decisions, including whether an item is potentially counterfeit, are made by trained specialists based on objective criteria and specific brand or product characteristics, such as stitching, logos and materials used in the design.

From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026

Those statistics are the defining characteristics that distinguish one quantum state from another.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 8, 2026

These characteristics were present throughout my youth and resurfacing.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

All of these songs have musical characteristics particular to the genre from which they emerged.

From "Music and the Child" by Natalie Sarrazin

Related Words

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