cardinal trait
noun Psychology.
a basic and dominant characteristic, as greed or ambition, that, according to a theory developed by psychologist Gordon Allport (1936), controls the behavior of many people.
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Foxy, Catty, Fishy: Are These Traits For Animals Or Humans?Catty It seems horribly unfair to adorable cats that catty is a human descriptor meaning “devious or spiteful” (and usually in reference to female behavior). What gives? The word cat has been around since the year 700. But then, in the Middle Ages, cat became one of the many offensive terms against women and was slang for “prostitute.” The association might have been made because …
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Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019