The difference between Characteristic and Specific

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

When used as adjectives, characteristic means being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing, whereas specific means explicit or definite.

check bellow for the other definitions of Characteristic and Specific

  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. Specific as an adjective:

    explicit or definite

  2. Specific as an adjective (sciences):

    Pertaining to a species.

  3. Specific as an adjective (taxonomy):

    pertaining to a taxon at the rank of species

  4. Specific as an adjective:

    special, distinctive or unique

  5. Specific as an adjective:

    intended for, or applying to, a particular thing

  6. Specific as an adjective:

    being a remedy for a particular disease

    Examples:

    "Quinine is a specific medicine in cases of malaria."

  7. Specific as an adjective (immunology):

    limited to a particular antibody or antigen

  8. Specific as an adjective (physics):

    of a value divided by mass (e.g. specific orbital energy)

  9. Specific as an adjective (physics):

    similarly referring to a value divided by any measure which acts to standardize it (e.g. thrust specific fuel consumption, referring to fuel consumption divided by thrust)

  10. Specific as an adjective (physics):

    a measure compared with a standard reference value by division, to produce a ratio without unit or dimension (e.g. specific refractive index is a pure number, and is relative to that of air)

  1. Specific as a noun:

    A distinguishing attribute or quality.

  2. Specific as a noun:

    A remedy for a specific disease or condition.

  3. Specific as a noun:

    Specification

  4. Specific as a noun (in the plural):

    The details; particulars.

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