characteristic vs characteristics

Both 'characteristic' and 'characteristics' are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'Characteristic' is singular and refers to a single distinguishing feature or quality, while 'characteristics' is plural and refers to multiple distinguishing features or qualities.

Last updated: March 30, 2024 • 1275 views

Correct. 'Characteristic' is singular and refers to a single distinguishing feature or quality.

"characteristic"

Use 'characteristic' when referring to a single distinguishing feature or quality of something.

Examples:

One characteristic of a good leader is empathy.
Patience is a characteristic that many people admire.

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This is an innately human characteristic.
Serial killing is a qualitative characteristic.
The majority took a characteristic Communist attitude toward this deplorable event.
Church of Santa Cristina with a characteristic belfry.
This creature has pelage characteristic of an animal.
Another characteristic common to nearly all self-assembled systems is their thermodynamic stability.
His main characteristic was a capacity for detailed work.
The characteristic mathematical expressions appearing in those definitions are Cayley-Menger determinants.
Open and closed strings are generally associated with characteristic vibrational modes.
Kilim patterns are often characteristic of specific regions.
Another characteristic of Ben Azzai was his great piety.
The most distinctive characteristic of Pteranodon is its cranial crest.
The characteristic X-rays are used for chemical analysis.
Every non-zero characteristic is a prime number.
In Eustathius of Thessalonica, Byzantine humanism found its most characteristic expression.
Located along the characteristic Michalska Street, this hotel offers...
SUPERPRO/3000U announces clustering programming system. a characteristic volume production solution.
A second characteristic of St Leonard Murialdo was pedagogical concern.
Another characteristic element are the bonds among migrants today.
A characteristic of anorexia nervosa is an obsession with thinness.

Alternatives:

trait
attribute
quality
feature
aspect

Correct. 'Characteristics' is plural and refers to multiple distinguishing features or qualities.

"characteristics"

Use 'characteristics' when referring to multiple distinguishing features or qualities of something.

Examples:

The characteristics of a successful business include innovation and adaptability.
She possesses many positive characteristics.

Show examples from the web [+]

Deceit and manipulation are the essential characteristics of the disorder...
The track may nevertheless be laid with different design characteristics.
The methods used for determining characteristics must be accurate and reliable.
This provision makes better harmonisation of summaries of product characteristics possible.
Morphine is the μ-opioid agonist with the best solubility characteristics for epidural administration.
A second set of variables relate to environmental characteristics.
These characteristics shall be assessed at IC level.
The reference period is 2015 for the other characteristics.
This also includes population characteristics and activity levels.
Pigs share certain characteristics with human beings.
The amendment stresses the use and important characteristics of benchmarks.
The characteristics and market realities are very different.
The product has the characteristics of non-textured flour.
Which aren't my worst characteristics.
Not either of our best characteristics.
Baseline characteristics are shown in Table 2.
Major baseline characteristics were balanced (see table 2).
India displays typical characteristics of a developing nation.
Values describing the characteristics of the aquifer medium.
Geometrical characteristics of the elevation grid coverage aggregation.

Alternatives:

traits
attributes
qualities
features
aspects

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characteristic vs characteristics

"characteristic"

"characteristics"

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