idiosyncrasy

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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!'

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Definitions (6)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.
  2. noun A physiological or temperamental peculiarity.
  3. noun An unusual individual reaction to food or a drug.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples

  • 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
 

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Idiosyncrasy has been looked up 871 times, favorited twice, listed 52 times, and commented on 0 times.

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Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Greek idiosunkrāsiā : idio-, idio- + sunkrāsis, mixture, temperament (sun-, syn- + krāsis, a mixing; see kerə- in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = French idiosyncrasie = Spanish Italian idiosincrasia = Portuguese idiosyncrasia, from Greek ἰδιοσυγκρασ, σ1ία, also ἰδιοσύγκρασ, σ1ις, a peculiar temperament or habit of body, from ἴδιος, one's own, peculiar, + σύγκρασ, σ1ις, a mixture, tempering, from συγκεραννύναι, mix with, from σύν, with, + κερανν/υναι, mix, later κρᾶσις, a mixing: see crasis.
 

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/ɪdɪəˈsɪnkrəsi/
by American Heritage
by Patrick Kennedy

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