idiosyncrasy Hear it!

idiosyncrasy Definition

idio·syn·crasy (id′ē ō siŋkrə sē, -sin-)

noun pl. -·sies

  1. the temperament or mental constitution peculiar to a person or group
  2. any personal peculiarity, mannerism, etc.
  3. an individual reaction to a drug, food, etc. that is different from the reaction of most people

Etymology: Gr idiosynkrasia < idio-, one's own, peculiar (see idio-) + synkrasis, a mixing together, tempering < synkerannynai, to mix together < syn-, together + kerannynai, to mix < IE *ere-, to mix > rare, Ger rühren, to stir

idiosyncrasy Related Forms
id′io·syn·cratic (--sin kratik--) adjective id′io·syn·crati·cally adverb
idiosyncrasy Synonyms

idiosyncrasy

n.

idiosyncrasy refers to any personal mannerism or peculiarity and connotes strong individuality the idiosyncrasies of a writer's style; eccentricity implies considerable deviation from what is normal or customary and connotes whimsicality or even mental aberration his eccentricity of wearing overshoes in the summer

idiosyncrasy Usage Examples

Preposition: of

  • life: He also provided interesting company talking about the idiosyncrasies of canyon life.
  • language: He goes out of his way to help with their difficulties and has great patience when explaining the idiosyncrasies of the English language.
  • culture: This work contains the author's thoughts on various things from the presidency of Tony Blair to the idiosyncrasies of modern British culture.
  • spelling: Nonetheless, there are idiosyncrasies of spelling and punctuation that make the task of transcribing the letters as faithfully as possible a challenging one!
  • style: Of course not, other than that both are using the same language and have the same idiosyncrasies of style.

Converse of object

  • have: Browsers may also have idiosyncrasies which prevent certain things working.
  • know: The facilitator must know the idiosyncrasies of whatever tool they are using well.
  • explain: He goes out of his way to help with their difficulties and has great patience when explaining the idiosyncrasies of the English language.
  • display: Jo Cameron adds that graduates can learn from individual idiosyncrasies displayed on the program.

Adjective modifier

  • personal: Carol is less coy about her personal idiosyncrasies, laying bare even those that took place in later life.
  • own: Every ethnic region has its own idiosyncrasies; it is up to us to learn them.
  • little: He is now spending time getting to know his charges and all their little idiosyncrasies.
  • local: These chains have to " trade off " economies resulting from common practices against loss of sales from local idiosyncrasies.
  • other: I so wish football would stop being swayed by royal events, news events and 101 other idiosyncrasies.
  • few: Klaw, Erlanger and their immediate associates felt themselves to be kings and began to exhibit a few supposedly royal idiosyncrasies.

Browse dictionary entries near idiosyncrasy

  1. idioplasm
  2. idiopathic
  3. idiomorphic
  4. idiomatic
  5. idiom
  6. idiolect
  7. idiocy
  8. idioblast
  9. idio-
  10. IDF
  1. idiosyncratic
  2. idiot
  3. idiot box
  4. idiot light
  5. idiot savant
  6. idiotic
  7. idiotism
  8. idle
  9. idleness
  10. idler