any measurable property of a device measured under closely specified conditions
the integer part (positive or negative) of the representation of a logarithm; in the expression log 643 = 2.808 the characteristic is 2
typical or distinctive; "heard my friend's characteristic laugh"; "red and gold are the characteristic colors of autumn"; "stripes characteristic of the zebra"
English linguist who contributed to linguistic semantics and to prosodic phonology and who was noted for his insistence on studying both sound and meaning in context (1890-1960)
the time required for something to fall to half its initial value (in particular, the time for half the atoms in a radioactive substance to disintegrate)