different between peculiar vs characteristic

English

Etymology

From Latin pec?li?ris (“one's own”), from pec?lium (“private property”), from pecus (“cattle”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /p??kju?l.j???/
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [p???k?ju?l.j??]
  • (US) IPA^(key): [p???k?jul.j???], [p???k?jul.j?]

Adjective

peculiar (comparative more peculiar, superlative most peculiar)

1. Out of the ordinary; odd; strange; unusual.

   Synonyms: odd, strange, uncommon, unusual

   Antonyms: common, mediocre, ordinary, usual

2. Common or usual for a certain place or circumstance; specific or particular.

   Synonym: specific

   Antonyms: common, general, universal

3. (dated) One's own; belonging solely or especially to an individual; not shared or possessed by others.
4. (dated) Particular; individual; special; appropriate.

Synonyms

• (out of the ordinary): see also Thesaurus:strange
• (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance): see also Thesaurus:specific

Antonyms

• (out of the ordinary): see also Thesaurus:normal
• (common or usual in a particular place or circumstance): see also Thesaurus:generic

Derived terms

Translations

Noun

peculiar (plural peculiars)

1. That which is peculiar; a sole or exclusive property; a prerogative; a characteristic.
   • before 1716, Robert South, Twelve Sermons

     If anything can legalize revenge, it should be injury from an extremely obliged person; but revenge is so absolutely the peculiar of heaven.

2. (Britain, canon law) an ecclesiastical district, parish, chapel or church outside the jurisdiction of the bishop of the diocese in which it is situated.

See also

• peculiar on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• Peculiar in the Encyclopædia Britannica (11th edition, 1911)

References

Anagrams

• pericula

Catalan

Etymology

From Latin pec?li?ris.

Pronunciation

• (Balearic, Central) IPA^(key): /p?.ku.li?a/
• (Valencian) IPA^(key): /pe.ku.li?a?/

Adjective

peculiar (masculine and feminine plural peculiars)

1. peculiar

Derived terms

• peculiarment

Related terms

• peculiaritat

Further reading

• “peculiar” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “peculiar” in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana.
• “peculiar” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “peculiar” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin pec?li?ris.

Adjective

peculiar m or f (plural peculiares, comparable)

1. peculiar; unusual; strange

   Synonyms: esquisito, estranho

2. peculiar (common or usual for a particular place or circumstance)

   Synonym: particular

Related terms

• peculiaridade

Further reading

• “peculiar” in Dicionário Priberam da Língua Portuguesa.

Spanish

Etymology

From Latin pec?li?ris.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /peku?lja?/, [pe.ku?lja?]

Adjective

peculiar (plural peculiares)

1. peculiar

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