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Appearance vs Characteristic - What's the difference?

appearance | characteristic |

As nouns the difference between appearance and characteristic

is that appearance is the act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye while characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing.

As an adjective characteristic is

being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

appearance

English

Alternative forms

* appearaunce

Noun

(en noun)
  • The act of appearing or coming into sight; the act of becoming visible to the eye.
  • A thing seen; a phenomenon; an apparition.
  • Personal presence; look; aspect; mien.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • And now am come to see . . . It thy appearance answer loud report.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1922, author=(Ben Travers)
  • , chapter=5, title= A Cuckoo in the Nest , passage=The most rapid and most seductive transition in all human nature is that which attends the palliation of a ravenous appetite.
  • Apparent likeness; external show; how something appears to others.
  • * Bible, (w) ix. 15
  • There was upon the tabernacle, as it were, the appearance of fire.
  • * Bible, 1 (w) xvi. 7
  • For man looketh on the outward appearance .
  • * Bible, (w) vii. 24
  • Judge not according to the appearance .
  • The act of appearing in a particular place, or in society, a company, or any proceedings; a coming before the public in a particular character.
  • * (John Milton) (1608-1674)
  • Will he now retire, After appearance , and again prolong Our expectation?
  • (legal) The coming into court of either of the parties; the being present in court; the coming into court of a party summoned in an action, either by himself or by his attorney, expressed by a formal entry by the proper officer to that effect; the act or proceeding by which a party proceeded against places himself before the court, and submits to its jurisdiction.
  • (medical) Chiefly used by nurses: the act of defecation by a patient.
  • Synonyms

    * (act of coming into sight) arrival, manifestation, * (a thing seen) spectacle, apparition, phenomenon, presence * (aspect of a person) aspect, air, figure, look, manner, mien * (outward show) semblance, show, pretense, or facade * (act of appearing in public) debut

    Derived terms

    () * court appearance * disappearance * keep up appearances * nonappearance * plate appearance * put in an appearance * reappearance * save appearances

    References

    *

    Statistics

    *

    characteristic

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
  • * , chapter=12
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=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.}}

    Synonyms

    * distinctive * exclusive * idiosyncratic * indicative * representative * signature * specific * typical

    Antonyms

    * uncharacteristic * untypical

    Derived terms

    * characteristic function * characteristicness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a distinguishable feature of a person or thing
  • (mathematics) the integer part of a logarithm
  • (nautical) the distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc)
  • (algebra, field theory) The minimum number of times that the unit of a field must be added unto itself in order to yield that field's zero, or, if that minimum natural number does not exist, then (the integer) zero.
  • A field's characteristic, if non-zero, must be a prime number.

    Synonyms

    * attribute * idiosyncrasy * mannerism * quality * tendency * trademark * trait * See also

    Derived terms

    * defining characteristic

    See also

    * mantissa