| Main Entry: | |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | typical; distinguishing |
| Synonyms: | appropriate, diagnostic, differentiating, discriminating, discriminative, distinctive, distinguishing, emblematic, especial, essential, exclusive, fixed, idiosyncratic, inborn, inbred, indicative, individual, individualistic, individualizing, ingrained, inherent, innate, local, marked, native, normal, original, particular, peculiar, personal, private, proper, regular, representative, singular, special, specific, symbolic, symptomatic, unique |
| Antonyms: | abnormal, uncharacteristic, untypical |
| Main Entry: | attribute |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | feature |
| Synonyms: | aspect, character, characteristic, facet, idiosyncrasy, indication, mark, note, particularity, peculiarity, point, property, quality, quirk, sign, speciality, symbol, trait, virtue |
| Main Entry: | common |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | average, ordinary |
| Synonyms: | accepted, banal, bourgeois, casual, characteristic, colloquial, comformable, commonplace, conventional, current, customary, daily, everyday, familiar, frequent, general, habitual, hackneyed, homely, humdrum, informal, mediocre, monotonous, natural, obscure, passable, plain, prevailing, prevalent, probable, prosaic, regular, routine, run-of-the-mill, simple, stale, standard, stereotyped, stock, trite, trivial, typical, undistinguished, universal, unvaried, usual, wearisome, workaday, worn-out |
| Notes: | mutual applies to reciprocal relationships between two or more things; if something is held in common, use 'common' instead |
| Antonyms: | abnormal, extraordinary, infrequent, noteworthy, rare, scarce, uncommon, unusual, valuable |
| Main Entry: | custom |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | habitual action |
| Synonyms: | addiction, beaten path, characteristic, consuetude, daily grind, fashion, form, grind*, groove, habit, habitude, hang-up, into*, manner, matter of course, mode, observance, practice, praxis, precedent, procedure, proprieties, routine, rule, second nature, shot, swim, thing, trick, usage, use, way, wont |
| Notes: | costume and custom were actually two forms of the same Latin root consuetudinem 'habit, custom,' with costume first meaning 'manners and customs belonging to a particular time and place' |
| Antonyms: | departure, deviation, difference, divergence, irregularity |
| Main Entry: | descriptive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | explanatory |
| Synonyms: | anecdotic, characteristic, characterizing, circumstantial, classificatory, clear, definitive, delineative, depictive, describing, designating, detailed, eloquent, explicative, expository, expressive, extended, graphic, identifying, illuminating, illuminative, illustrative, indicative, interpretive, lifelike, narrative, particularized, pictorial, picturesque, revealing, specific, true to life, vivid |
| Antonyms: | confusing, cursory, undescriptive |
| Main Entry: | difference |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | dissimilarity, distinctness |
| Synonyms: | aberration, alteration, anomaly, antithesis, asymmetry, change, characteristic, contrariety, contrariness, contrast, departure, deviation, digression, discongruity, discrepancy, disparity, dissemblance, distinction, divergence, diversity, exception, heterogeneity, idiosyncrasy, inequality, irregularity, nonconformity, opposition, particularity, peculiarity, separateness, separation, singularity, unconformity, unlikeness, unorthodoxness, variance, variation, variety |
| Notes: | deference is a courteous expression of regard or respect, while difference is the quality of being unlike or dissimilar deferential means showing courteous expression of regard or respect; difference is the quality of being unlike or dissimilar; differential means relating to or showing a difference or the quality of the difference between similar things |
| Antonyms: | accord, agreement, alikeness, concurrence, conformity, likeness, sameness, similarity, uniformity |
| Main Entry: | distinction |
| Part of Speech: | noun |
| Definition: | differentiation; feature |
| Synonyms: | acumen, acuteness, alterity, analysis, characteristic, clearness, contrast, diagnosis, difference, differential, discernment, discrepancy, discreteness, discretion, discrimination, dissemblance, dissimilarity, dissimilitude, divergence, divergency, division, earmark, estimation, individuality, judgment, mark, marking, nicety, otherness, particularity, peculiarity, penetration, perception, qualification, quality, refinement, sensitivity, separation, sharpness, tact, unlikeness |
| Main Entry: | distinctive |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | different, unique |
| Synonyms: | characteristic, cool, diacritic, diagnostic, discrete, distinguishing, excellent, extraordinary, far cry, gnarly, idiosyncratic, individual, like night and day, offbeat, original, outstanding, peculiar, perfect, poles apart, proper, separate, single, singular, special, superior, typical, uncommon, unreal, weird, wicked |
| Notes: | distinct means something stands out - while distinctive implies that an attribute or quality make something recognizable or distinguishable |
| Antonyms: | common, normal, resembling, same, similar, standard |
| Main Entry: | eccentric |
| Part of Speech: | adjective |
| Definition: | bizarre, unusual |
| Synonyms: | aberrant, abnormal, anomalous, beat*, bent*, bizarre, capricious, characteristic, cockeyed, crazy, curious, droll, erratic, far out, flaky, freak, freakish, funky*, funny, idiosyncratic, irregular, kooky, nutty, odd, oddball, off the wall, off-center, offbeat, out in left field, outlandish, peculiar, quaint, queer, quirky, quizzical, singular, strange, uncommon, unconventional, unnatural, way out, weird, whimsical, wild |
| Antonyms: | boring, common, dull, normal, ordinary, plain, regular, standard, unexciting, usual |