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idiosyncrasy

 
Dictionary: id·i·o·syn·cra·sy   (ĭd'ē-ō-sĭng'krə-sē) pronunciation
n., pl., -sies.
  1. A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.
  2. A physiological or temperamental peculiarity.
  3. An unusual individual reaction to food or a drug.

[Greek idiosunkrāsiā : idio-, idio- + sunkrāsis, mixture, temperament (sun-, syn- + krāsis, a mixing).]

idiosyncratic id'i·o·syn·crat'ic (-sĭn-krăt'ĭk) adj.
idiosyncratically id'i·o·syn·crat'i·cal·ly adv.

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Dental Dictionary: idiosyncrasy
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(id'ē-ōsing'krəsē)
n

1. the tendency to react atypically or with unusual violence to a food, drug, or cosmetic. 2. any characteristic that is peculiar to an individual.

Sports Science and Medicine: idiosyncrasy
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An unusual or unexpected sensitivity exhibited by an individual to a particular food or drug. Idiosyncrasy is usually determined genetically and it may be due to a biological deficiency (e.g. an inability to metabolize a drug).

Veterinary Dictionary: idiosyncrasy
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1. a habit or quality of body or behavior peculiar to any individual animal.
2. an abnormal susceptibility to an agent (e.g. a drug) that is peculiar to the individual animal.

Word Tutor: idiosyncrasy
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pronunciation

IN BRIEF: Personal mannerism.

pronunciation For his family, grandpa's one idiosyncrasy of talking too much was hard to bear.

Wikipedia: Idiosyncrasy
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Idiosyncrasy, from Ancient Greek ἰδιοσυγκρασία, idiosyngkrasía, "a peculiar temperament", "habit of body" (ἴδιος, idios "one's own", σύν, syn "with" and κρᾶσις krasis "mixture") is defined as an individualizing quality or characteristic of a person or group, and is often used to express eccentricity or peculiarity. The term can also be applied to symbols. Idiosyncratic symbols mean one thing for a particular person, as a blade could mean war, but to someone else, it could symbolize a surgery. By the same principle, linguists state[who?] that words are not only arbitrary, but also largely idiosyncratic signs.[citation needed]

Contents

Idiosyncrasy in medicine

Disease

Idiosyncrasy defined the way physicians conceived diseases in the nineteenth century. They considered each disease as a unique condition, related to each patient. This understanding began to change in the 1870s, when discoveries made by researchers in Europe permitted the advent of a 'scientific medicine', a precursor to the Evidence-Based Medicine that is the standard of practice today.

Pharmacology

In contemporary medicine (as of 2007), the term idiosyncratic drug reaction denotes a non-immunological hypersensitivity to a substance, without connection to pharmacological toxicity.[1] Idiosyncratic stresses here the fact that other individuals would react differently, or not at all, and that the reaction is an individual one based on a specific condition of the one who suffers it. Most commonly, this is caused by an enzymopathy, congenital or acquired, so that the triggering substance cannot be processed properly in the organism and causes symptoms by accumulating or blocking other substances to be processed. An idiosyncrasy causing symptoms like an allergy is also called pseudoanaphylaxis.[1]

Psychiatry

In psychiatry, the term means a specific and unique mental condition of a patient, often accompanied by neologisms. In psychoanalysis and behaviorism, it is used for the personal way a given individual reacts, perceives and experiences a common situation: a certain dish made of meat may cause nostalgic memories in one person and disgust in another. These reactions are called idiosyncratic.

Idiosyncrasy in economics

In portfolio theory, risks of price changes due to the unique circumstances of a specific security, as opposed to the overall market, are described as idiosyncratic risk. This risk can be virtually eliminated from a portfolio through diversification. It is also often called unsystematic or specific risk. It means there is no compensation for risk, no matter how risky the asset is, and no matter how risk averse we are.[citation needed]

In econometrics, idiosyncratic error is used to describe error from panel data that both changes over time and across units (individuals, firms, cities, etc.)

See also

References

  1. ^ a b Roche Lexikon Medizin, 5th edition (online version, German)

Translations: Idiosyncrasy
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Dansk (Danish)
n. - overfølsomhed, særhed, idiosynkrasi

Nederlands (Dutch)
eigenaardigheid

Français (French)
n. - particularité, manie (hum)

Deutsch (German)
n. - Idiosynkrasie, Eigenart

Ελληνική (Greek)
n. - ιδιοσυγκρασία, ιδιομορφία

Italiano (Italian)
idiosincrasia

Português (Portuguese)
n. - idiossincrasia (f)

Русский (Russian)
черта характера, темперамент, особенность стиля, идиосинкразия

Español (Spanish)
n. - idiosincrasia

Svenska (Swedish)
n. - egenhet, karakteristiskt uttryckssätt, idiosynkrasi, överkänslighet

中文(简体)(Chinese (Simplified))
特质, 特性

中文(繁體)(Chinese (Traditional))
n. - 特質, 特性

한국어 (Korean)
n. - 특질, 개성, 특이체질

日本語 (Japanese)
n. - 特徴, 特異体質

العربيه (Arabic)
‏(الاسم) خاصيه, خصوصيه‏

עברית (Hebrew)
n. - ‮ייחודיות, אופיינות, מזג מיוחד, רגישות-יתר, צורת התבטאות האופיינית למחבר, מצב גופני מיוחד לאדם מסוים‬


 
 

 

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