SYNONYMS AND RELATED EXPRESSIONS
idiosyncratic
adjective
Distinctive of a particular person or thing, often in an unusual way.
Local English device voice, when available. This is not a recorded dictionary pronunciation.
Distinctive to an individual
Closest synonyms
Related words and expressions
These extend or explain the idea and may require a different sentence structure.
Usage distinction
Return to topIdiosyncratic means particular to someone or something; eccentric adds departure from common expectations.
RELATED FORMS, ONE FEATURED ENTRY
The idiosyncratic family
These forms are closely related, but their grammar and use are not identical. Expand a form to compare its meaning and examples.
idiosyncrasynoun
A distinctive habit or feature of an individual or thing.
Distinctive personal feature
Closest synonyms
Related expressions
One idiosyncrasy of the old clock was its uneven chime.
One idiosyncrasy of Niko's design notebooks was that every project began with a question written upside down at the bottom of the page.
CHECK THE MEANING IN CONTEXT
See idiosyncratic in use
Her idiosyncratic filing system made perfect sense to her but puzzled the other volunteers.
The artist's idiosyncratic habit of hiding a striped cup in every painting gave viewers a second detail to notice.
Compare an alternative with the original word in each passage. Shared meanings do not make every pair interchangeable.
Synonym reference scope and sources
The groups distinguish the senses selected for this study entry. Closest synonyms and broader related expressions have separate labels. The listed sources support lexical selection; not every phrase is a direct quotation from a source.
How the synonym reference was prepared / WordNet 3.0 license