Characteristic
Characteristic adjective - Serving to identify as belonging to an individual or group.
Usage example: the characteristic taste of licorice
Special is a synonym for characteristic in typical topic. In some cases you can use "Special" instead an adjective "Characteristic", when it comes to topics like distinctive.
Special
Special adjective - Being the one or ones of a class with no other members.
Characteristic is a synonym for special in specific topic. You can use "Characteristic" instead an adjective "Special", if it concerns topics such as distinguished.
Mutual synonyms
Related pairs
- individual and characteristic
- individual and special
- distinctive and characteristic
- distinctive and special
- particular and characteristic
- particular and special
- typical and characteristic
- typical and special
- specific and characteristic
- specific and special
- distinguishing and characteristic
- distinguishing and special
- idiosyncratic and characteristic
- idiosyncratic and special
Both words in one sentence
-
Characteristic tests, special abilities and features unique to each faction, weapon-specific rules, terrain effects, and other such actions also influence the progress of each phase.
Source: Tabletop Game / Warhammer 40,000 -
It used to be so that you could tell they were special even if you were playing on a monochrome Game Boy, but the effect became so characteristic of Shinies that it's appeared in all games since.
- It's not clear whether this is a characteristic of alicorns in general (the only other two to have been seen in the show were originally regular ponies who were turned into alicorns) or whether Celestia and Luna are a special case.
Source: We Are as Mayflies
Cite this Source
Special and Characteristic. (2016). Retrieved 2026, July 21, from https://thesaurus.plus/related/characteristic/special
Characteristic & Special. N.p., 2016. Web. 21 Jul. 2026. <https://thesaurus.plus/related/characteristic/special>.
Special or Characteristic. 2016. Accessed July 21, 2026. https://thesaurus.plus/related/characteristic/special.
Google Ngram Viewer shows how "characteristic" and "special" have occurred on timeline