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Particular vs Characteristic - What's the difference?

particular | characteristic | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between particular and characteristic

is that particular is pertaining only to a part of something; partial while characteristic is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

As nouns the difference between particular and characteristic

is that particular is a small individual part of something larger; a detail, a point while characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing.

particular

English

Alternative forms

* perticular (obsolete)

Adjective

(-)
  • (obsolete) Pertaining only to a part of something; partial.
  • Specific; discrete; concrete.
    • I couldn't find the particular model you asked for, but I hope this one will do.
    We knew it was named after John Smith, but nobody knows which particular John Smith.
  • * Shakespeare
    • [Make] each particular hair to stand an end, / Like quills upon the fretful porpentine.
  • Specialised; characteristic of a specific person or thing.
    • I don't appreciate your particular brand of cynicism.
  • * Francis Bacon
    • wheresoever one plant draweth such a particular juice out of the earth
  • (obsolete) Known only to an individual person or group; confidential.
  • * 1623 , William Shakespeare, King Lear , V.1:
    • or these domesticke and particular broiles, Are not the question heere.
  • Distinguished in some way; special (often in negative constructions).
    • My five favorite places are, in no particular order, New York, Chicago, Paris, San Francisco and London.
    I didn't have any particular interest in the book.
    He brought no particular news.
    She was the particular belle of the party.
  • (comparable) Of a person, concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; precise; fastidious.
    • He is very particular about his food and if it isn't cooked to perfection he will send it back.
  • Concerned with, or attentive to, details; minute; circumstantial; precise.
    • a full and particular account of an accident
  • (legal) Containing a part only; limited.
    • a particular estate, or one precedent to an estate in remainder
  • (legal) Holding a particular estate.
    • a particular tenant
    (Blackstone)
  • (logic) Forming a part of a genus; relatively limited in extension; affirmed or denied of a part of a subject.
    • a particular proposition, opposed to "universal", e.g. (particular affirmative) "Some men are wise"; (particular negative) "Some men are not wise".

    Synonyms

    * See also

    Antonyms

    * general

    Derived terms

    * antiparticularism * antiparticularist * in particular * particular average * particular Church * particular integral * particularism * particularize * particularly * particularity

    Related terms

    * particulars (certain individuals - not used in singular)

    External links

    *

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • A small individual part of something larger; a detail, a point.
  • (obsolete) A person's own individual case.
  • *, II.16:
  • *:Since philosophy could never find any way for tranquillity that might be generally good, let every man in his particular seeke for it.
  • * Whole Duty of Man
    • temporal blessings, whether such as concern the publicor such as concern our particular
  • *

    • Related terms

    * universal * for one's particular

    Statistics

    * ----

    characteristic

    English

    (wikipedia 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

    Related terms

    * characteristically

    See also

    * mantissa

    External links

    * *