characteristic

Meanings

1. 1
   adj

   typical or distinctive

   heard my friend's characteristic laugh

2. 2
   noun

   the integer part (positive or negative) of the representation of a logarithm

   in the expression log 643 = 2.808 the characteristic is 2

3. 3
   adj

   Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

   All this was extraordinarily distasteful to Churchill. It was ugly, gross. Never before had he felt such repulsion when the vicar displayed his characteristic bluntness or coarseness of speech. In the present connexion […] such talk had been distressingly out of place.

4. 4
   noun

   The integer part of a logarithm.

   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.

5. 5
   noun

   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.

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

6. 6
   noun

   a distinguishing quality

7. 7
   noun

   any measurable property of a device measured under closely specified conditions

8. 8
   noun

   a prominent attribute or aspect of something

Etymology

From Ancient Greek χαρακτηριστικός (kharaktēristikós), from χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “a mark, character”). By surface analysis, character + -istic.