idiosyncrasy

• And the other long word idiosyncrasy seemed long enough to cover it; and it might have been a matter of temperament, I fancied, that a man of genius, in the mystery of his nature, should find his feelings sometimes like dumb notes in a piano ... should care for people at half past eleven on Tuesday, and on Wednesday at noon prefer a black beetle. —  The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett
• Another very prominent and notable characteristic of that most remarkable idiosyncrasy was the large and almost universal tolerance with which George Eliot regarded her fellow creatures. —  What I Remember
• This idiosyncrasy was the means of defeating various conspiracies, in which Chalks, of course, was the prime mover, calculated to impose upon his credulity, and send him back to London loaded down with misinformation His cheek, by Christopher!' —  Grey Roses
• This idiosyncrasy was the means of defeating various conspiracies, in which —  Grey Roses
• I knew the book to be an expression of idiosyncrasy, and no man knows how much or how little his idiosyncrasy is in harmony with the temper of his time, until his book has been given to the world. —  Aylwin

Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the Same Context