Physical vs Characteristic - What's the difference?
physical | characteristic |
Having to do with the body.
Having to do with the material world.
* John Stuart Mill
* Macaulay
* {{quote-magazine, title=No hiding place
, date=2013-05-25, volume=407, issue=8837, page=74, magazine=(The Economist)
Involving bodily force.
Having to do with physics.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01, author=Michael Riordan, title=Tackling Infinity
, volume=100, issue=1, page=86, magazine=(American Scientist)
(label)
(obsolete) Relating to physic, or medicine; medicinal; curative; also, cathartic; purgative.
* Sir T. North
* Shakespeare
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 adjectives the difference between physical and characteristic
is that physical is having to do with the body while characteristic is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.As nouns the difference between physical and characteristic
is that physical is physical examination while characteristic is a distinguishable feature of a person or thing.physical
English
(wikipedia physical)Adjective
(en adjective)- Labour, in the physical world, is employed in putting objects in motion.
- A society sunk in ignorance, and ruled by mere physical force.
citation, passage=In America alone, people spent $170 billion on “direct marketing”—junk mail of both the physical and electronic varieties—last year. Yet of those who received unsolicited adverts through the post, only 3% bought anything as a result.}}
citation, passage=Some of the most beautiful and thus appealing physical theories, including quantum electrodynamics and quantum gravity, have been dogged for decades by infinities that erupt when theorists try to prod their calculations into new domains. Getting rid of these nagging infinities has probably occupied far more effort than was spent in originating the theories.}}
- Physical herbs.
- Is Brutus sick? and is it physical / To walk unbraced, and suck up the humours / Of the dank morning?
Antonyms
* mental, psychological; having to do with the mind viewed as distinct from body.Derived terms
* antiphysical * physical body * physical chemistry * physical education * physical examination * physical relations * physical therapy * physical worldSynonyms
* checkup, check-upStatistics
*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.
