different between identity vs characteristic

English

Etymology

Middle French identité, from Latin idem (“the same”). See identical and idem.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a??d?nt?ti/

Noun

identity (countable and uncountable, plural identities)

1. Sameness, identicalness; the quality or fact of (several specified things) being the same.
   • 1997, Hydrothermal Vent Fauna, in Advances in Marine Biology: The Biogeography of the Oceans, page 111:

     […] suggesting the two are different stages of the same species. The identity of the two species is further suggested by allozyme analysis […]

2. The difference or character that marks off an individual or collective from the rest of the same kind, selfhood, sense of who something or someone or oneself is, or the recurring characteristics that enable the recognition of such an individual or group by others or themself.

   I've been through so many changes, I have no sense of identity.

   This nation has a strong identity.

   (The addition of quotations indicative of this usage is being sought:)

3. A name or persona—a mask or appearance one presents to the world—by which one is known.

   This criminal has taken on several identities.

4. (mathematics) An equation which always holds true regardless of the choice of input variables.
5. (algebra, computing) Any function which maps all elements of its domain to themselves.
6. (algebra) An element of an algebraic structure which, when applied to another element under an operation in that structure, yields this second element.
7. (Australia, New Zealand) A well-known or famous person.
   • 1887 July 19, "Drowned at Williamstown", The Age (Melbourne)

     The body of a well known old identity named James Conroy […] was found in the water yesterday afternoon…

   • 2013 April 4, "Cricket identities consult lawyers", New Zealand Herald
   • 2016 January 13, "Kings Cross identities arrested in connection with murder", The Sydney Morning Herald

Synonyms

• (sameness): See also Thesaurus:sameness
• (difference that marks off an individual): individuality, selfhood; see also Thesaurus:selfhood
• (mathematical function): identity function
• (famous person): celebrity, personality

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

References

• identity at OneLook Dictionary Search
• identity in Keywords for Today: A 21st Century Vocabulary, edited by The Keywords Project, Colin MacCabe, Holly Yanacek, 2018.
• identity in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.
• identity in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????????????? (kharakt?ristikós), from ??????????? (kharakt?ríz?, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from ???????? (kharakt?r, “a mark, character”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæ??kt????st?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k???kt????st?k/
• Rhymes: -?st?k
• Hyphenation: char?ac?te?ris?tic

Adjective

characteristic (comparative more characteristic, superlative most characteristic)

1. Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

Synonyms

• distinctive
• exclusive
• idiosyncratic
• indicative
• representative
• signature
• specific
• typical

Antonyms

• uncharacteristic
• untypical

Derived terms

• characteristic function
• characteristicness

Translations

Noun

characteristic (plural characteristics)

1. A distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
2. (mathematics) The integer part of a logarithm.
   • 1830, Solomon Pearson Miles, Thomas Sherwin, Mathematical Tables: Comprising Logarithms of Numbers, […] , page 69,

     It is evident, moreover, that as the logarithms of numbers, which are tenfold, the one of the other, do not differ except in their characteristics, it is sufficient that the tables contain the fractional parts only of the logarithms.

   • 1911, F. T. Swanwick, Elementary Trigonometry, Cambridge University Press, page 60,

     As the sine and cosine are always proper fractions their logarithms are negative, i.e. have negative characteristics. When we are given an angle, it is impossible to say, from inspection of the angle, what the characteristic of the logarithm of its sine, cosine or tangent may be; so the characteristics have to be printed with the mantissae.

   • 1961, Principles and Applications of Mathematics for Communications-Electronics, [U.S.] Department of the Army, page 69,

     Similarly, the characteristic for .003 is ?3, and the characteristic for .0003 is ?4.

3. (nautical) The distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc.).
4. (algebra, field theory, ring theory) For a given field or ring, a natural number that is either the smallest positive number n such that n instances of the multiplicative identity (1) summed together yield the additive identity (0) or, if no such number exists, the number 0.
   • 1962 [John Wiley & Sons], Nathan Jacobson, Lie Algebras, 1979, Dover, page 289,

     In this chapter we study the problem of classifying the finite-dimensional simple Lie algebras over an arbitrary field of characteristic 0.

   • 1992, Simeon Ivanov (translator), P. M. Gudivok, E. Ya. Pogorilyak, On Modular Representations of Finite Groups over Integral Domains, Simeon Ivanov (editor), Galois Theory, Rings, Algebraic Groups and Their Applications, American Mathematical Society, page 87,

     Let R be a Noetherian factorial ring of characteristic p which is not a field.

   • 1993, S. Warner, Topological Rings, Elsevier (North-Holland), page 424,

     Traditionally, a complete, discretely valued field of characteristic zero, the maximal ideal of whose valuation ring is generated by the prime number p, has been called a p-adic field. In our terminology, the valuation ring of a p-adic field is a Cohen ring of characteristic zero whose residue field has characteristic p, and consequently a p-adic field is simply the quotient field of such a Cohen ring.

Synonyms

• (distinguishing feature of a person or thing): attribute, hallmark, idiosyncrasy, mannerism, quality, tendency, trademark, trait
• See also Thesaurus:characteristic

Coordinate terms

• (part of a logarithm): mantissa

Derived terms

• defining characteristic

Related terms

• characteristically

Translations

See also

• mantissa

Further reading

• characteristic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• characteristic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Interlingua

Adjective

characteristic (not comparable)

1. characteristic

Related terms

• characteristica