The difference between Characteristic and Idiosyncrasy

When used as nouns, characteristic means a distinguishing feature of a person or thing, whereas idiosyncrasy means a behavior or way of thinking that is characteristic of a person.

Characteristic is also adjective with the meaning: being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

check bellow for the other definitions of Characteristic and Idiosyncrasy

  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. Idiosyncrasy as a noun:

    A behavior or way of thinking that is characteristic of a person.

  2. Idiosyncrasy as a noun:

    A language or behaviour that is particular to an individual or group.

  3. Idiosyncrasy as a noun (medicine):

    A peculiar individual reaction to a generally innocuous substance or factor.

  4. Idiosyncrasy as a noun:

    A peculiarity that serves to distinguish or identify.

    Examples:

    "He mastered the idiosyncrasies of English spelling and speech."

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