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View synonyms for

characteristic

[kar-ik-tuh-ris-tik]

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: ,


noun

  1. a distinguishing feature or quality.

    Generosity is his chief characteristic.

    Synonyms: , ,
  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

/ ˌæɪəˈɪɪ /

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

“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

adjective

  1. indicative of a distinctive quality, etc; typical

“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

characteristic

  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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Other Word Forms

  • characteristically adverb
  • noncharacteristic adjective
  • noncharacteristically adverb
  • quasi-characteristic adjective
  • quasi-characteristically adverb
  • uncharacteristic adjective
  • uncharacteristically adverb
  • ˌ󲹰ٱˈپ adverb
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Word History and Origins

Origin of characteristic1

First recorded in 1655–65; from Greek 󲹰ŧپó ( character, -istic )
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Synonym Study

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

The track characteristics have the opposite effect on championship leaders McLaren, whose car is the best in the field at managing tyre temperatures.

From

Norris and McLaren have been open about how a certain characteristic of their car has affected him.

From

It said recruitment should be "solely on the basis of merit" and provide "equality of opportunity to all candidates", irrespective of protected characteristics including gender, religion and "political opinion".

From

Wannabe fascism is an incomplete version of fascism, it is characteristic of those who seek to destroy democracy for short-term personal gain but are not fully committed to the fascist cause.

From

It was galling for Mr Varvill "because we were turning it around with an improved engine. Just as we were getting close to succeeding we failed. That's a uniquely British characteristic."

From

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character generatorcharacteristic curve