Contextualizebeta

idiosyncrasy

noun
/ˌɪdɪəʊˈsɪŋkɹəsi/UK/ˌɪdiəˈsɪŋkɹəsi/US/ˌɪdiəˈsɪŋkɹəsi/

Etymology

First attested in 1604, in modern sense since 1665, from Ancient Greek ἰδιοσυγκρασία (idiosunkrasía, “one’s own temperament”), from ἴδιος (ídios, “one’s own”) + σύν (sún, “together”) + κρᾶσις (krâsis, “temperament”). By surface analysis, idio- + syn- + -crasy.

  1. borrowed from ἰδιοσυγκρασία

Definitions

  1. A behavior or way of thinking that is characteristic of a person or a group.

    • Every village has its idiosyncrasy, its constitution, often its own code of morality.
    • If he expresses himself such as he is, an idiosyncrasy affected but not annihilated by education, he may say that his books are his own.

  2. A peculiar individual reaction to a generally innocuous substance or factor

    A peculiar individual reaction to a generally innocuous substance or factor; a risk factor.

    • […]I have no antipathy, or rather Idio-ſyncraſie, in dyet, humour, ayre, any thing; […].

  3. A peculiarity that serves to distinguish or identify.

    • He mastered the idiosyncrasies of English spelling and speech.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for idiosyncrasy. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA