The difference between Characteristic and Quality

When used as nouns, characteristic means a distinguishing feature of a person or thing, whereas quality means level of excellence.

When used as adjectives, characteristic means being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing, whereas quality means being of good worth, well made, fit for purpose.

check bellow for the other definitions of Characteristic and Quality

  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. Quality as a noun (uncountable):

    Level of excellence.

    Examples:

    "This school is well-known for having teachers of high quality."

    "'Quality of life is usually determined by health, education, and income."

  2. Quality as a noun (countable):

    A property or an attribute that differentiates a thing or person.

    Examples:

    "One of the qualities of pure iron is that it does not rust easily."

    "While being impulsive can be great for artists, it is not a desirable quality for engineers."

    "Security, stability, and efficiency are good qualities of an operating system."

  3. Quality as a noun (archaic):

    High social position. (See also .)

    Examples:

    "A peasant is not allowed to fall in love with a lady of quality."

    "Membership of this golf club is limited to those of quality and wealth."

  4. Quality as a noun (uncountable):

    The degree to which a man-made object or system is free from bugs and flaws, as opposed to scope of functions or quantity of items.

  5. Quality as a noun (thermodynamics):

    In a two-phase liquid–vapor mixture, the ratio of the mass of vapor present to the total mass of the mixture.

  6. Quality as a noun (emergency medicine, countable):

    The third step in OPQRST where the responder investigates what the NOI/MOI feels like.

    Examples:

    "To identify quality try asking, "what does it feel like?"."

  1. Quality as an adjective:

    Being of good worth, well made, fit for purpose.

    Examples:

    "We only sell quality products."

    "That was a quality game by Jim Smith."

    "A quality system ensures products meet customer requirements."

Compare words:

Compare with synonyms and related words: