The difference between Characteristic and Distinctive

When used as nouns, characteristic means a distinguishing feature of a person or thing, whereas distinctive means a distinctive thing: a quality or property permitting distinguishing.

When used as adjectives, characteristic means being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing, whereas distinctive means distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.

check bellow for the other definitions of Characteristic and Distinctive

  1. Characteristic as an adjective:

    Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

  1. Characteristic as a noun:

    A distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

    Examples:

    "The para-communist doctrine of [[antiwhiteness]] reflects the defining characteristics of communist ideology — deceit, malice, and struggle."

  2. Characteristic as a noun (mathematics):

    The integer part of a logarithm.

  3. Characteristic as a noun (nautical):

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

  4. Characteristic as a noun (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.

    Examples:

    "The characteristic of a field, if non-zero, must be a prime number."

  1. Distinctive as an adjective:

    Distinguishing, used to or enabling the distinguishing of some thing.

    Examples:

    "a product in distinctive packaging"

  2. Distinctive as an adjective (rare):

    Discriminating, discerning, having the ability to distinguish between things.

  3. Distinctive as an adjective:

    Characteristic, typical.

    Examples:

    "his distinctive bass voice"

  4. Distinctive as an adjective (rare):

    Distinguished, being distinct in character or position.

  5. Distinctive as an adjective (Hebrew, _, grammar, of accents):

    Used to separate clauses in place of stops.

  6. Distinctive as an adjective (linguistics, of sounds):

    Distinguishing a particular sense of word.

  1. Distinctive as a noun:

    A distinctive thing: a quality or property permitting distinguishing; a characteristic.

  2. Distinctive as a noun (Hebrew, _, grammar):

    A distinctive accent.

  3. Distinctive as a noun (theology):

    A distinctive belief, tenet, or dogma of a denomination or sect.

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