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Respective vs Characteristic - What's the difference?

respective | characteristic | Related terms |

As adjectives the difference between respective and characteristic

is that respective is relating to particular persons or things, each to each; particular; own while characteristic is being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

As a noun characteristic is

a distinguishable feature of a person or thing.

respective

English

Adjective

(-)
  • Relating to particular persons or things, each to each; particular; own.
    • They returned to their respective places of abode.
  • * {{quote-news
    • , year=2012 , date=August 23 , author=Alasdair Lamont , title=Hearts 0-1 Liverpool , work=BBC Sport citation , page= , passage=Adam and Novikovas swapped long-range efforts, neither of which troubled the respective keepers.}}
  • (obsolete) Noticing with attention; careful; wary.
  • * Archbishop Sandys
    • If you look upon the church of England with a respective eye, you can not refuse this charge.
  • (obsolete) Looking toward; having reference to; relative, not absolute.
    • the respective connections of society
  • (obsolete) Fitted to awaken respect.
  • * 1599 , , IV. iv. 192:
    • What should it be that he respects in her / But I can make respective in myself,
  • (obsolete) Rendering respect; respectful; regardful.
  • * Chapman
    • With respective shame, rose, took us by the hands.
  • * Lord Burleigh
    • With thy equals familiar, yet respective .

    Synonyms

    * (relating to particular persons or things) corresponding, relevant, specific

    Derived terms

    * respectiveness * irrespective

    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

    * *