characteristic

(kăr'ək-tə-rĭs'tĭk)
adj.
Being a feature that helps to distinguish a person or thing; distinctive: heard my friend's characteristic laugh; the stripes that are characteristic of the zebra.

n.

1. A feature that helps to identify, tell apart, or describe recognizably; a distinguishing mark or trait.
2. Mathematics. The integral part of a logarithm as distinguished from the mantissa: The characteristic of the logarithm 6.3214 is 6.
3. Mathematics. The least number of times the multiplicative identity in a ring needs to be added to itself to reach the additive identity, or, if the additive identity is never reached, zero. The integers have a characteristic of zero; the integers modulus 12 have a characteristic of 12.

characteristically char'ac·ter·is'ti·cal·ly adv.

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In logarithms and floating point, the number that indicates where the decimal point is placed.

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adjective

Serving to identify or set apart an individual or group: distinctive, individual, peculiar, typical, vintage. See same/different/compare.

noun

A distinctive element: attribute, character, feature, mark, peculiarity, property, quality, savor, trait. See be.

adj

Definition: typical; distinguishing
Antonyms: abnormal, uncharacteristic, untypical

n

Definition: typical feature, trait
Antonyms: abnormality

IN BRIEF: Typically or usually.

July is characteristically a very warm month.

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The idea, the connotation, or the recognition of a flavor. The flavor characteristic of a chemical or natural product is its encompassing profile, all of the nuances that make up its aroma, taste, physical, sensory, and chemical properties. A flavor ingredient may be broken down into its effects. A flavor ingredient could characterize, modify, or differentiate the flavor. A flavor ingredient that characterizes a flavor represents to the observer that it is one flavor type among other products and that it stands out as being typical of all of those types and species for that flavor. For instance, the flavor of wintergreen is characterized by the chemical methyl salicylate. Without methyl salicy-late, another salicylate, or something that smells and tastes very close to methyl salicylate, the character of wintergreen would not be achieved. Most root beers have a wintergreen top note with a sweet background. This sweet component could be composed of vanillin, maltol™, heliotropine, or a furanone. Any or all of these are used to modify the initial characterization of the methyl salicylate. They are called the modifying ingredients. Modifying ingredients are necessary to give the overall impression of the flavor, but are not as crucial as individuals so that any one can be neither replaced nor removed. In this instance, to make a root beer, a wintergreen note is needed, and any sweet note is needed after that. Once the modifying sweet background is accomplished, in this example, the flavor can take on uniqueness. One flavor may have a spicy, clove-like background, another may have a camphor-like background, still another may have an anise or anethole background, and finally another may be floral. These are all examples of differential characteristics in a root beer flavor. Differential, modifying, and characterizing characteristics vary greatly with the flavor type, and each flavor component is unique. See Duplication, Flavor Modification, Nuance, Characterizing.

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1. character.
2. typical of an individual or other entity. See also character.

• c. curve — the photographic characteristics of an emulsion on an x-ray film based on plotting the density of the image obtained against the logarithm of the exposure under specified conditions of development.
• c. radiation — nearly homogeneous radiation produced in the target of the x-ray tube when orbital electrons are knocked out and replaced by electrons from outer shells.
• c. x-rays — see characteristic radiation (above).

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Common misspelling(s) of characteristics

• charistics

Dansk (Danish)
adj. - karakteristisk
n. - karakteristik, kendetegn

idioms:

• characteristic curve    karakteristik
• characteristic radiation    karakteristisk stråling

Nederlands (Dutch)
karaktertrek, karakteristiek, kenmerk

Français (French)
adj. - caractéristique, caractéristique de, typique
n. - caractéristique, trait de caractère, (Math) caractéristique

idioms:

• characteristic curve    courbe caractéristique
• characteristic radiation    radiation caractéristique

Deutsch (German)
n. - Charakterzug, Kennzeichen, Merkmal
adj. - charakteristisch, kennzeichnend

idioms:

• characteristic curve    Kennlinie
• characteristic radiation    Röntgenstrahlung

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - χαρακτηριστικό γνώρισμα
adj. - χαρακτηριστικός, αντιπροσωπευτικός, προσιδιάζων, ιδιότυπος

idioms:

• characteristic curve    χαρακτηριστική καμπύλη
• characteristic radiation    χαρακτηριστική ακτινοβολία

Italiano (Italian)
caratteristica, caratteristico

idioms:

• characteristic curve    curva caratteristica
• characteristic radiation    radiazione caratteristica

Português (Portuguese)
n. - característica (f)
adj. - característico

idioms:

• characteristic curve    curva (f) característica
• characteristic radiation    radiação (f) característica

Русский (Russian)
характеристика, характерный

idioms:

• characteristic curve    характеристическая кривая
• characteristic radiation    характерическая радиация

Español (Spanish)
adj. - característico
n. - característica, peculiaridad

idioms:

• characteristic curve    curva característica
• characteristic radiation    radiación característica

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - kännetecken, kännemärke
adj. - karakteristisk, betecknande

中文（简体）(Chinese (Simplified))
特有的, 典型的, 表示特性的, 特性, 特色, 特征

idioms:

• characteristic curve    特性曲线
• characteristic radiation    标识辐射

中文（繁體）(Chinese (Traditional))
adj. - 特有的, 典型的, 表示特性的
n. - 特性, 特色, 特徵

idioms:

• characteristic curve    特性曲線
• characteristic radiation    標識輻射

한국어 (Korean)
adj. - 특색을 이루는
n. - 특질, 지표

日本語 (Japanese)
adj. - 特質のある, 独特の, 特有な, 特有の
n. - 特質, 特徴, 特性, 特色, 指標

idioms:

• characteristic curve    特性曲線
• characteristic radiation    固有放射, 特性放射

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) ميزة, طابع, صفه (صفه) مميز, خصيصا‏

עברית (Hebrew)
adj. - ‮אופייני‬
n. - ‮תכונה, מאפיין‬

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