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characteristic

[ kar-ik-tuh-ris-tik ]
/ ˌkær ɪk təˈrɪs tɪk /
SEE SYNONYMS FOR characteristic ON THESAURUS.COM

adjective

Also char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal. 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.

noun

a distinguishing feature or quality: Generosity is his chief characteristic.
Mathematics.
  1. the integral part of a common logarithm.Compare mantissa.
  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.

Words related to characteristic

style, essence, tendency, nature, attribute, component, peculiarity, virtue, aspect, temperament, tone, flavor, quality, symptom, personality, streak, bearing, individuality, bent, point

Words nearby characteristic

character sketch, character study, character type, character witness, characterful, characteristic, characteristic curve, characteristic equation, characteristic function, characteristic polynomial, characteristic root

Origin of characteristic

From the Greek word charaktēristikós, dating back to 1655–65. See character, -istic

OTHER WORDS FROM characteristic

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020

Examples from the Web for characteristics

British Dictionary definitions for characteristics

characteristic
/ (ˌkærɪktəˈrɪstɪk) /

noun

a distinguishing quality, attribute, or trait
maths
  1. the integral part of a common logarithm, indicating the order of magnitude of the associated numberthe characteristic of 2.4771 is 2 Compare mantissa
  2. another name for exponent, used esp in number representation in computing

adjective

indicative of a distinctive quality, etc; typical

Derived forms of characteristic

characteristically, adverb
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for characteristics

characteristic
[ kăr′ək-tə-rĭs′tĭk ]

n.

A distinguishing feature or attribute; character.
A structure or function determined by a gene or genes; trait.

Other words from characteristic

char′ac•ter•is′tic adj.
The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Scientific definitions for characteristics

characteristic
[ kăr′ək-tə-rĭs′tĭk ]

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. Compare mantissa.
The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.