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characteristic

characteristic

49 3.8
Typical of a person, place, or thing, showing its usual features
  • adjective
  • /ˌkɛrɪktəˈrɪstɪk/
translation icon : característico
  • Her hair is arranged in the form of a lozenge, as was characteristic of the period.
  • characteristic features
  • characteristic patterns
  • characteristic behaviors

Because the great playwrights make their dialogue characteristic to each character.

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Examples

  • Castells argues that networks are the characteristic organizational form of the kind of world now taking shape.

    Academic text (1999)
  • Your healthcare provider may also look for characteristic patterns of hair loss.

  • But he had one characteristic that stood out.

  • OK, this is what gives it its characteristic flavor.

  • One of the characteristic things about Terry is his love for animals.

  • He says it in such a strange but characteristic way.

  • The mood and pose is characteristic of the frustrated individual.

  • Nancy, with her characteristic wit, replied to the letter.

  • Long exposure to spice has given the tribe their characteristic blue eyes, the Eyes of Ibad.

  • Your healthcare provider may also look for characteristic patterns of hair loss.

Synonyms

typical
vscharacteristic
843 1.0

Having the usual qualities of a person, thing, or group

is about features that make an individual thing distinct

Antonyms

27 5.7

Different from what is usual or expected

Not usual for a person or thing

Compounds

A feature that makes someone or something different from others

characteristic curve
  • Specialized
1 7.2

A graph that shows how one device property changes as another thing changes, like voltage or temperature

1 6.5

A physical change during puberty that shows male or female differences and does not help make babies

A body change at puberty that shows sex, like body hair and a deeper voice

sex characteristic
  • Specialized
1 5.8

A trait of body and mind linked to being male or female

sexual characteristic
  • Specialized
1 6.1

A physical trait or a common behavior linked mainly to one sex

8.5

A graph that shows how a device's output changes when input voltage changes

characteristic root
  • Specialized
9.9

A number that makes a square matrix have determinant zero when subtracted from its diagonal entries

device characteristic
  • Specialized
6.0

A thing about a device you can measure under certain conditions, like how much power it uses

A graph showing how loudness changes across low and high tones

5.2

A body part you are born with that helps make babies, like genitals or ovaries

A body part you are born with that is used to make babies, like genitals

How Characteristic

defining
20 4.6
characteristic
49 3.8
typical
843 1.0
distinctive
104 3.9

Surface Forms

characteristic positive

Morphology

characteristic = character (transparent) = character + istic

The adjective is formed by adding the productive suffix '-istic' to 'character', yielding 'typical of' or 'pertaining to' a characteristic.

Etymology

Characteristic comes from the Greek word charaktēr meaning 'mark' or 'stamp', and it shares the same root as character. So if something is characteristic of a person, it shows the 'mark' that makes them typical or easily recognised.