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Characteristic vs Variable - What's the difference?

characteristic | variable |

As nouns the difference between characteristic and variable

is that characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing while variable is variable.

As an adjective characteristic

is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

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

    variable

    Adjective

    (en adjective)
  • Able to vary.
  • variable''' winds or seasons; a '''variable quantity
  • Likely to vary.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Lest that thy love prove likewise variable .
  • Marked by diversity or difference.
  • (mathematics) Having no fixed quantitative value.
  • (biology) Tending to deviate from a normal or recognized type.
  • Synonyms

    * (able to vary) alterable, flexible, changeable, mutable * (likely to vary) fickle, fluctuating, inconstant, shifting, unstable, unsteady * (marked by diversity or difference) varying * aberrant

    Antonyms

    * (able to vary) constant, invariable, immutable, unalterable, unchangeable * (likely to vary) constant, invariable, immutable, unchangeable * (marked by diversity or difference) unchanging * constant, invariable

    Derived terms

    * variability * variableness

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Something that is .
  • Something whose value may be dictated or discovered.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= Katie L. Burke
  • , title= In the News , volume=101, issue=3, page=193, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Bats host many high-profile viruses that can infect humans, including severe acute respiratory syndrome and Ebola. A recent study explored the ecological variables that may contribute to bats’ propensity to harbor such zoonotic diseases by comparing them with another order of common reservoir hosts: rodents.}}
  • (mathematics) A quantity that may assume any one of a set of values.
  • (mathematics) A symbol representing a variable.
  • (programming) A named memory location in which a program can store intermediate results and from which it can read them.
  • (astronomy) A variable star.
  • (nautical) A shifting wind, or one that varies in force.
  • (nautical, in the plural) Those parts of the sea where a steady wind is not expected, especially the parts between the trade-wind belts.
  • Synonyms

    * (something that is variable) changeable * (something whose value may be dictated or discovered) parameter * variable quantity

    Antonyms

    * (something that is variable) constant, invariable

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * bound variable * categorical variable * continuous variable * dependent variable * discrete variable * flow variable * free variable * global variable * independent variable * instance variable * interval variable * local variable * member variable * metasyntactic variable * nominal variable * ordinal variable * ratio variable * stock variable * variable star * variably * vary

    See also

    * argument * variate