different between bent vs characteristic

English

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) enPR: b?nt, IPA^(key): /b?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Etymology 1

From bend +? -t.

Verb

bent

1. simple past tense and past participle of bend

Adjective

bent (comparative benter or more bent, superlative bentest or most bent)

1. (Of something that is usually straight) folded, dented
2. (colloquial, chiefly Britain) corrupt, dishonest
3. (derogatory, colloquial, chiefly Britain) Homosexual.
4. Determined or insistent.

   Synonym: hell-bent
5. (Of a person) leading a life of crime.
6. (slang, soccer) inaccurately aimed

7. (colloquial, chiefly US) Suffering from the bends
8. (slang) High from both marijuana and alcohol.

Synonyms

• (folded, corrupt): crooked
• (homosexual): queer

Derived terms

• bent as a nine-bob note
• bent copper

Related terms

• (determined): hell-bent

Translations

Noun

bent (plural bents)

1. An inclination or talent.

2. A predisposition to act or react in a particular way.

3. The state of being curved, crooked, or inclined from a straight line; flexure; curvity.
   • 1648, John Wilkins, Mathematical Magick

     the force they have in the discharge , according to several bents

4. A declivity or slope, as of a hill.

   • Beneath the lowering brow, and on a bent,
     The temple stood of Mars armipotent

5. Particular direction or tendency; flexion; course.

   • bents and turns of the matter

6. (carpentry) A transverse frame of a framed structure; a subunit of framing.
   1. Such a subunit as a component of a barn's framing, joined to other bents by girts and summer beams.
   2. Such a subunit as a reinforcement to, or integral part of, a bridge's framing.
7. Tension; force of acting; energy; impetus.
   • 1707, John Norris, Practical Discourses Upon the Beatitudes of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

     the full bent and stress of the soul

Synonyms

• (an inclination or talent): disposition, predilection, proclivity, propensity, see also Thesaurus:predilection

Translations

Etymology 2

From Middle English bent, benet, from Old English *beonet (attested only in place-names and personal names), from Proto-West Germanic *binut (“reed, rush”), of uncertain origin.

Noun

bent (countable and uncountable, plural bents)

1. Any of various stiff or reedy grasses.
   • 1627, Michael Drayton, "Nymphidia", 1810 reprint page 124:

     His spear a bent, both stiff and strong.

   • 1888, Rudyard Kipling, ‘The Strange Ride of Morrowbie Jukes’, The Phantom ’Rickshaw and Other Tales, Folio Society 2005, p. 121:

     Gunga Dass gave me a double handful of dried bents which I thrust down the mouth of the lair to the right of his, and followed myself, feet foremost [...].

   • 1913, D.H. Lawrence, Sons and Lovers, chapter 9

     Clusters of strong flowers rose everywhere above the coarse tussocks of bent.

2. A grassy area, grassland.
   • c. 1500, The Ballad of Chevy Chase

     Bowmen bickered upon the bent.

3. The old dried stalks of grasses.

Synonyms

(grass): bentgrass

Translations

Dutch

Etymology

Created in analogy to Dutch ben (“am”). Modern Dutch bent has replaced the Middle Dutch verb forms bes and best (“(you) are (sg.)”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /b?nt/
• Rhymes: -?nt

Verb

bent

1. second-person singular present indicative of zijn; are.

References

Hungarian

Etymology

From benn, following the example of alant and lent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [?b?nt]
• Hyphenation: bent
• Rhymes: -?nt

Adverb

bent (comparative bentebb, superlative legbentebb)

1. inside

   Synonym: benn

   Antonyms: kinn, kint

References

Lithuanian

Adverb

bent

1. at least.

Old Norse

Participle

bent

1. strong neuter nominative/accusative singular of bendr

Verb

bent

1. supine of benda

Scots

Alternative forms

• bynt

Etymology

From Old English beonet, compare Middle English bent.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?nt/

Noun

bent (plural bents)

1. (archaic, 14th century) Coarse or wiry grass growing upon moorlands.
2. (archaic, 15th century) An area covered with coarse or wiry grass; a moor.

Derived terms

• benty (covered in bent)

Turkish

Etymology

From Persian ???? (band).

Noun

bent (definite accusative {{{1}}}, plural {{{2}}})

1. dam

English

Etymology

From Ancient Greek ??????????????? (kharakt?ristikós), from ??????????? (kharakt?ríz?, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from ???????? (kharakt?r, “a mark, character”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæ??kt????st?k/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k???kt????st?k/
• Rhymes: -?st?k
• Hyphenation: char?ac?te?ris?tic

Adjective

characteristic (comparative more characteristic, superlative most characteristic)

1. Being a distinguishing feature of a person or thing.

Synonyms

• distinctive
• exclusive
• idiosyncratic
• indicative
• representative
• signature
• specific
• typical

Antonyms

• uncharacteristic
• untypical

Derived terms

• characteristic function
• characteristicness

Translations

Noun

characteristic (plural characteristics)

1. A distinguishing feature of a person or thing.
2. (mathematics) The integer part of a logarithm.
   • 1830, Solomon Pearson Miles, Thomas Sherwin, Mathematical Tables: Comprising Logarithms of Numbers, […] , page 69,

     It is evident, moreover, that as the logarithms of numbers, which are tenfold, the one of the other, do not differ except in their characteristics, it is sufficient that the tables contain the fractional parts only of the logarithms.

   • 1911, F. T. Swanwick, Elementary Trigonometry, Cambridge University Press, page 60,

     As the sine and cosine are always proper fractions their logarithms are negative, i.e. have negative characteristics. When we are given an angle, it is impossible to say, from inspection of the angle, what the characteristic of the logarithm of its sine, cosine or tangent may be; so the characteristics have to be printed with the mantissae.

   • 1961, Principles and Applications of Mathematics for Communications-Electronics, [U.S.] Department of the Army, page 69,

     Similarly, the characteristic for .003 is ?3, and the characteristic for .0003 is ?4.

3. (nautical) The distinguishing features of a navigational light on a lighthouse etc by which it can be identified (colour, pattern of flashes etc.).
4. (algebra, field theory, ring theory) For a given field or ring, a natural number that is either the smallest positive number n such that n instances of the multiplicative identity (1) summed together yield the additive identity (0) or, if no such number exists, the number 0.
   • 1962 [John Wiley & Sons], Nathan Jacobson, Lie Algebras, 1979, Dover, page 289,

     In this chapter we study the problem of classifying the finite-dimensional simple Lie algebras over an arbitrary field of characteristic 0.

   • 1992, Simeon Ivanov (translator), P. M. Gudivok, E. Ya. Pogorilyak, On Modular Representations of Finite Groups over Integral Domains, Simeon Ivanov (editor), Galois Theory, Rings, Algebraic Groups and Their Applications, American Mathematical Society, page 87,

     Let R be a Noetherian factorial ring of characteristic p which is not a field.

   • 1993, S. Warner, Topological Rings, Elsevier (North-Holland), page 424,

     Traditionally, a complete, discretely valued field of characteristic zero, the maximal ideal of whose valuation ring is generated by the prime number p, has been called a p-adic field. In our terminology, the valuation ring of a p-adic field is a Cohen ring of characteristic zero whose residue field has characteristic p, and consequently a p-adic field is simply the quotient field of such a Cohen ring.

Synonyms

• (distinguishing feature of a person or thing): attribute, hallmark, idiosyncrasy, mannerism, quality, tendency, trademark, trait
• See also Thesaurus:characteristic

Coordinate terms

• (part of a logarithm): mantissa

Derived terms

• defining characteristic

Related terms

• characteristically

Translations

See also

• mantissa

Further reading

• characteristic in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• characteristic in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Interlingua

Adjective

characteristic (not comparable)

1. characteristic

Related terms

• characteristica