Search the Dictionary

A peculiar, or individual, characteristic or affection. All men are so full of their own fancies and idiopathies, that they scarce have the civility to interchange any words with a stranger. Dr. H. More.

A peculiarity of physical or mental constitution or temperament; a characteristic belonging to, and distinguishing, an individual; characteristic susceptibility; idiocrasy; eccentricity. The individual mind . . . takes its tone from the idiosyncrasies of the body. I. Taylor.

Inclined to imitate, copy, or follow; imitating; exhibiting some of the qualities or characteristics of a pattern or model; dependent on example; not original; as, man is an imitative being; painting is an imitative art.

Having the qualities, or showing the characteristics, of an imp.

Characteristic; mark of distinction; stamp. South.

s one less than the number of integral figures in the given number. It is also called the characteristic. -- Index of refraction, or Refractive index (Opt.), the number which expresses the ratio of the sine of the angle of incidence to the sine of the angle of refraction. Thus the index of refraction for sulphur is 2,…

A rare metallic element, discovered in certain ores of zinc, by means of its characteristic spectrum of two indigo blue lines; hence, its name. In appearance it resembles zinc, being white or lead gray, soft, malleable and easily fusible, but in its chemical relation it resembles aluminium or gallium. Symbol In. Atomic…

Of or pertaining to one only; peculiar to, or characteristic of, a single person or thing; distinctive; as, individual traits of character; individual exertions; individual peculiarities.

individual; that quality which distinguishes one person or thing from another; the sum of characteristic traits; distinctive character; as, he is a person of marked individuality.

Of or pertaining to infancy, or to an infant; similar to, or characteristic of, an infant; childish; as, infantile behavior.

An axis on which all the flower buds. Inflorescence affords an excellent characteristic mark in distinguishing the species of plants. Milne. Centrifugal inflorescence, determinate inflorescence. -- Centripetal inflorescence, indeterminate inflorescence. See under Determinate, and Indeterminate.

An extinct genus of large, fossil, bivalve shells,allied to the mussels. The genus is characteristic of the Cretaceous period.

Relating to inquiry or inquisition; inquisitorial; also, of or pertaining to, or characteristic of, the Inquisition. All the inquisitional rigor . . . executed upon books. Milton.

Typical and characteristic marks or signs, by which anything is known or distinguished; as, the insignia of a trade.

Anything forming a characteristic and persistent feature in social or national life or habits. We ordered a lunch (the most delightful of English institutions, next to dinner) to be ready against our return. Hawthorne.

Of or pertaining to an island; of the nature, or possessing the characteristics, of an island; as, an insular climate, fauna, etc.

ulsations of sound, or, generally, two waves or vibrations of any kind, producing certain characteristic phenomena, as colored fringes, dark bands, or darkness, in the case of light, silence or increased intensity in sounds; neutralization or superposition of waves generally.

A natural susceptibility, characteristic of all living organisms, tissues, and cells, to the influence of certain stimuli, response being manifested in a variety of ways, -- as that quality in plants by which they exhibit motion under suitable stimulation; esp., the property which living muscle processes, of responding…

suffix indicating an act, a process, the result of an act or a process, a state; also, a characteristic (as a theory, doctrine, idiom, etc.); as, baptism, galvanism, organism, hypnotism, socialism, sensualism, Anglicism.

A combining from (also used adjectively), signifying: Pertaining to, or designating, the characteristic, nitrogenous radical, NOH, called the isonitroso group.