characteristic
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.
a distinguishing feature or quality: Generosity is his chief characteristic.
Mathematics.
the integral part of a common logarithm.: Compare mantissa.
the exponent of 10 in a number expressed in scientific notation.
the smallest positive integer n such that each element of a given ring added to itself n times results in 0.
Origin of characteristic
1synonym study For characteristic
Other words for characteristic
Other words from characteristic
- char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- non·char·ac·ter·is·tic, adjective
- non·char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- qua·si-char·ac·ter·is·tic, adjective
- qua·si-char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
- un·char·ac·ter·is·tic, adjective
- un·char·ac·ter·is·ti·cal·ly, adverb
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use characteristic in a sentence
The residue on the lower disc, if examined before carbonisation, is fawn-coloured with non-characteristic spots.
Poisons: Their Effects and Detection | Alexander Wynter Blyth
British Dictionary definitions for characteristic
/ (ˌkærɪktəˈrɪstɪk) /
a distinguishing quality, attribute, or trait
maths
the integral part of a common logarithm, indicating the order of magnitude of the associated number: the characteristic of 2.4771 is 2 Compare mantissa
another name for exponent, used esp in number representation in computing
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
Scientific definitions for 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.
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