Individual vs Characteristic - What's the difference?
individual | characteristic | Related terms |
A person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people.
(legal) A single physical human being as a legal subject, as opposed to a legal person such as a corporation.
* 1982 , Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms :
An object, be it a thing or an agent, as contrasted to a class.
* {{quote-book, year=2006, chapter=Identity and Individuality in Quantum Theory, title=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, author=Steven French
, passage=It is typically held that chairs, trees, rocks, people and many of the so-called ‘everyday’ objects we encounter can be regarded as individuals .}}
* {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author=
, title= (lb) An element belonging to a population.
Relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-06-01, volume=407, issue=8838, page=71, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= Intended for a single person as opposed to more than one person.
Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
* , chapter=12
, title= 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.
As nouns the difference between individual and characteristic
is that individual is a person considered alone, rather than as belonging to a group of people while characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing.As adjectives the difference between individual and characteristic
is that individual is relating to a single person or thing as opposed to more than one while characteristic is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.individual
English
Alternative forms
* individuall (obsolete)Noun
(en noun)- Every individual is equal before and under the law and has the right to the equal protection and equal benefit of the law without discrimination […].
citation
Katrina G. Claw
Rapid Evolution in Eggs and Sperm, volume=101, issue=3, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=In plants, the ability to recognize self from nonself plays an important role in fertilization, because self-fertilization will result in less diverse offspring than fertilization with pollen from another individual .}}
Adjective
(en adjective)End of the peer show, passage=Finance is seldom romantic. But the idea of peer-to-peer lending comes close. This is an industry that brings together individual savers and lenders on online platforms. Those that want to borrow are matched with those that want to lend.}}
Synonyms
* (relating to a single person or thing) (l), (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l)Antonyms
* (relating to a single person or thing) (l) * (intended for a single person or thing) (l), (l), (l)External links
* *Statistics
* ----characteristic
English
(wikipedia characteristic)Adjective
(en adjective)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 * typicalAntonyms
* uncharacteristic * untypicalDerived terms
* characteristic function * characteristicnessNoun
(en noun)- A field's characteristic, if non-zero, must be a prime number.