Characteristic vs Phenomenon - What's the difference?
characteristic | phenomenon |
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.
An observable fact or occurrence or a kind of observable fact or occurrence.
* 1900 , , The Making of Religion , ch. 1:
* 2007 , "
Appearance; a perceptible aspect of something that is mutable.
* 1662 , Thomas Salusbury (translator), Galileo's Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief Systems of the World , First Day:
A fact or event considered very unusual, curious, or astonishing by those who witness it.
* 1816 , , The Antiquary—Volume I , ch. 18:
A wonderful or very remarkable person or thing.
* 1839 , , Nicholas Nickleby , ch. 23:
* 1888 , , "The Phantom Rickshaw":
An experienced object whose constitution reflects the order and conceptual structure imposed upon it by the human mind (especially by the powers of perception and understanding).
* 1900 , , "Comparison of Some Views of Spencer and Kant," Mind , vol. 9, no. 34, p. 234:
* 1912 , , "Is There a Cognitive Relation?" The Journal of Philosophy, Psychology and Scientific Methods , vol. 9, no. 9, p. 232:
As nouns the difference between characteristic and phenomenon
is that characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing while phenomenon is an observable fact or occurrence or a kind of observable fact or occurrence.As an adjective characteristic
is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.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.
Synonyms
* attribute * idiosyncrasy * mannerism * quality * tendency * trademark * trait * See alsoDerived terms
* defining characteristicSee also
* mantissaExternal links
* *phenomenon
English
(wikipedia phenomenon)Alternative forms
* phaenomenon, (archaic) * phainomenon * (qualifier)Noun
(phenomena)- The Indians, making a hasty inference from a trivial phenomenon , arrived unawares at a probably correct conclusion.
Ask the Experts: Hurricanes," USA Today , 7 Nov. (retrieved 16 Jan. 2009):
- Hurricanes are a meteorological phenomenon .
- I verily believe that in the Moon there are no rains, for if Clouds should gather in any part thereof, as they do about the Earth, they would thereupon hide from our sight some of those things, which we with the Telescope behold in the Moon, and in a word, would some way or other change its Phœnomenon .
- The phenomenon of a huge blazing fire, upon the opposite bank of the glen, again presented itself to the eye of the watchman. . . . He resolved to examine more nearly the object of his wonder.
- "This, sir," said Mr Vincent Crummles, bringing the maiden forward, "this is the infant phenomenon —Miss Ninetta Crummles."
- But, all the same, you're a phenomenon', and as queer a ' phenomenon as you are a blackguard.
- Every "phenomenon " must be, at any rate, partly subjective or dependent on the subject.
- The Kantian phenomenon is the real as we are compelled to think it.