Definitions for characteristic
ˌkær ɪk təˈrɪs tɪkchar·ac·ter·is·tic

Princeton's WordNet(3.52 / 21 votes)Rate this definition:

1. feature, characteristicnoun

   a prominent attribute or aspect of something

   "the map showed roads and other features"; "generosity is one of his best characteristics"

2. characteristicnoun

   a distinguishing quality

3. characteristicnoun

   the integer part (positive or negative) of the representation of a logarithm; in the expression log 643 = 2.808 the characteristic is 2

4. characteristic, device characteristicadjective

   any measurable property of a device measured under closely specified conditions

5. characteristicadjective

   typical or distinctive

   "heard my friend's characteristic laugh"; "red and gold are the characteristic colors of autumn"; "stripes characteristic of the zebra"

Wiktionary(2.71 / 7 votes)Rate this definition:

1. characteristicnoun

   a distinguishable feature of a person or thing

   Etymology: From χαρακτηριστικός, from χαρακτηρίζω, from χαρακτήρ.

2. characteristicnoun

   the integer part of a logarithm

   Etymology: From χαρακτηριστικός, from χαρακτηρίζω, from χαρακτήρ.

3. characteristicnoun

   the distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc)

   Etymology: From χαρακτηριστικός, from χαρακτηρίζω, from χαρακτήρ.

4. characteristicnoun

   The minimum number of times that the unit of a field must be added unto itself in order to yield that field's zero, or, if that minimum natural number does not exist, then (the integer) zero.

   Etymology: From χαρακτηριστικός, from χαρακτηρίζω, from χαρακτήρ.

5. characteristicadjective

   being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing

   Etymology: From χαρακτηριστικός, from χαρακτηρίζω, from χαρακτήρ.

Webster Dictionary(3.40 / 5 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Characteristicadjective

   pertaining to, or serving to constitute, the character; showing the character, or distinctive qualities or traits, of a person or thing; peculiar; distinctive

   Etymology: [Gr. : cf. F. charactristique.]

2. Characteristicnoun

   a distinguishing trait, quality, or property; an element of character; that which characterized

   Etymology: [Gr. : cf. F. charactristique.]

3. Characteristicnoun

   the integral part (whether positive or negative) of a logarithm

   Etymology: [Gr. : cf. F. charactristique.]

Freebase(3.17 / 6 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Characteristic

   In mathematics, the characteristic of a ring R, often denoted char, is defined to be the smallest number of times one must use the ring's multiplicative identity element in a sum to get the additive identity element; the ring is said to have characteristic zero if this repeated sum never reaches the additive identity. That is, char is the smallest positive number n such that if such a number n exists, and 0 otherwise. The characteristic may also be taken to be the exponent of the ring's additive group, that is, the smallest positive n such that for every element a of the ring. Some authors do not include the multiplicative identity element in their requirements for a ring, and this definition is suitable for that convention; otherwise the two definitions are equivalent due to the distributive law in rings.

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. characteristic

   A specific quality.

   The characteristics were so clear, she was so honest.

   Submitted by MaryC on March 4, 2020  

Matched Categories

1. • Integer
   • Property
   • Quality

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'characteristic' in Nouns Frequency: #904

2. Adjectives Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'characteristic' in Adjectives Frequency: #691

How to pronounce characteristic?

1. Alex

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

How to say characteristic in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of characteristic in Chaldean Numerology is: 2

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of characteristic in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of characteristic in a Sentence

1. Ben Carson:

   I would hope people would recognize that trying to create efficiency is a characteristic that they would like to see in their leaders.

2. David Brenner:

   Bargaining for health benefits is a distinguishing characteristic that labor unions hold out as an important variable as to why Former Vice President Joe Biden would want to be a union member.

3. Ludwig Von Mises:

   The essential characteristic of Western civilization that distinguishes it from the arrested and petrified civilizations of the East was and is its concern for freedom from the state.

4. Margaret Thatcher:

   I think they've [Labour Government] made the biggest financial mess that any government's ever made in this country for a very long time, and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money. It's quite a characteristic of them. They then start to nationalise everything, and people just do not like more and more nationalisation, and they're now trying to control everything by other means. They're progressively reducing the choice available to ordinary people.

5. Andrea Dworkin:

   In this society, the norm of masculinity is phallic aggression. Male sexuality is, by definition, intensely and rigidly phallic. A man's identity is located in his conception of himself as the possessor of a phallus; a man's worth is located in his pride in phallic identity. The main characteristic of phallic identity is that worth is entirely contingent on the possession of a phallus. Since men have no other criteria for worth, no other notion of identity, those who do not have phalluses are not recognized as fully human.

Images & Illustrations of characteristic

Popularity rank by frequency of use