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Characteristic vs Property - What's the difference?

characteristic | property |

As nouns the difference between characteristic and property

is that characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing while property is something that is owned.

As an adjective characteristic

is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

As a verb property is

to invest with properties, or qualities.

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

    * *

    property

    English

    Alternative forms

    * propretie

    Noun

  • Something that is owned.
  • *{{quote-book, year=1927, author= F. E. Penny
    • , chapter=4, title= Pulling the Strings , passage=A turban and loincloth soaked in blood had been found; also a staff. These properties were known to have belonged to a toddy drawer. He had disappeared.}}
  • A piece of real estate, such as a parcel of land.
  • Real estate; the business of selling houses.
  • The exclusive right of possessing, enjoying and disposing of a thing.
  • An attribute or abstract quality associated with an individual, object or concept.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Philip J. Bushnell
    • , magazine=(American Scientist), title= Solvents, Ethanol, Car Crashes & Tolerance , passage=Furthermore, this increase in risk is comparable to the risk of death from leukemia after long-term exposure to benzene, another solvent, which has the well-known property of causing this type of cancer.}}
  • An attribute or abstract quality which is characteristic of a class of objects.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=July-August, author= Lee S. Langston, magazine=(American Scientist)
    • , title= The Adaptable Gas Turbine , passage=Turbines have been around for a long time—windmills and water wheels are early examples. The name comes from the Latin turbo'', meaning ''vortex , and thus the defining property of a turbine is that a fluid or gas turns the blades of a rotor, which is attached to a shaft that can perform useful work.}}
  • (label) An editable or read-only parameter associated with an application, component or class, or the value of such a parameter.
  • An object used in a dramatic production.
  • (label) Propriety; correctness.
    • (Camden)

    Synonyms

    * (something owned) belongings, owndom, possession * (piece of real estate) land, parcel * (attribute or abstract quality of an object) attribute, feature, owndom * (object used in a dramatic production) prop * See also * See also

    Derived terms

    * abandoned property * accidental property * bound property * chemical property * country property * essential property * hot property * intellectual property * lost property * man of property * mechanical property * metaproperty * mislaid property * personal property * physical property * private property * prop * propertied * property file * property ladder * property law * property line * property man * property master * property owner * property porn * property rights * property tax * propertyless * public property * qualified property * real property

    Related terms

    (Terms etymologically related to "property") * proper * proprietary * proprietor

    Verb

  • (obsolete) To invest with properties, or qualities.
    • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) To make a property of; to appropriate.
  • * Shakespeare
    • They have here propertied me.

    Statistics

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