CHARACTERISTIC, CHARACTERISTICAL, adjective That constitutes the character; that marks the peculiar, distinctive qualities of a person or thing. Generosity is often a characteristic virtue of a brave man. It is followed by of. Generosity is characteristic of true bravery. CHARACTERISTIC, noun 1. That which constitutes a character; that which characterizes; that which distinguishes a person or thing from another. Invention is the characteristic of Homer. 2. In grammar, the principal letter of a word, which is preserved in most of its tenses, in its derivatives and compounds. The characteristic of a logarithm, is its index or exponent. The characteristic triangle of a curve, in geometry, is a rectilinear right-angled triangle, whose hypotenuse makes a part of the curve, not sensibly different from a right line.
Source: Webster's 1828 American Dictionary ↗ · public-domain · returned verbatim, no AI