idiosyncratic

English

Etymology

From idiosyncrasy +‎ -ic.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌɪd.i.əʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/, /-ˌsɪŋ-/
• (General American, Canada) IPA^(key): /ˌɪd.i.oʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/, [ˌɪd.i.oʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæɾ.ɪk], /-ˌsɪŋ-/

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• (General Australian) IPA^(key): /ˌɪd.i.əʉ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/, [ˌɪd.i.əʉ.sɪŋˈkɹæɾ.ɪk], /-ˌsɪŋ-/
• (New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˌəd.i.ɐʉ.səŋˈkɹɛt.ək/, [ˌəd.i.ɐʉ.səŋˈkɹɛɾ.ək], /-ˌsəŋ-/
• Rhymes: -ætɪk

Adjective

idiosyncratic (comparative more idiosyncratic, superlative most idiosyncratic)

1. Peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.
   • 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, chapter 9, in Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde:

     At the time, I set it down to some idiosyncratic, personal distaste . . . but I have since had reason to believe the cause to lie much deeper in the nature of man.

   • 1891, George MacDonald, chapter 12, in The Flight of the Shadow:

     It was no merely idiosyncratic experience, for the youth had the same: it was love!

   • 1982 April 26, Michael Walsh, “Music: A Fresh Falstaff in Los Angeles”, in Time:

     British Director Ronald Eyre kept the action crisp; he was correctly content to execute the composer's wishes, rather than impose a fashionably idiosyncratic view of his own.

   • 2020 September 1, Nicholas Barber, “Five stars for I'm Thinking of Ending Things”, in BBC‎:

     I’m not saying that Kaufman’s film will be enshrined as a classic, as those Kubrick films are. It’s too idiosyncratic and demanding for that: many viewers will be thinking of ending it halfway through

Derived terms

• idiosyncratical
• idiosyncratically
• idiosyncraticity
• idiosyncratic reaction
• nonidiosyncratic
• unidiosyncratic

Related terms

• idiosyncrasy

Translations

peculiar to a specific individual

Armenian: իդիոսինկրատիկ (idiosinkratik) Catalan: idiosincràtic Chinese: Mandarin: 獨特的 / 独特的 (dútè de), 特異的 / 特异的 (tèyì de) Czech: osobitý (cs) m, specifický (cs) m, výstřední (cs), charakteristický (cs) m Dutch: eigenzinnig (nl), eigenaardig (nl), idiosyncratisch (nl), karakteristiek (nl) Estonian: idiosünkraatiline, isikuomane Finnish: omaperäinen (fi), omalaatuinen (fi) French: singulier (fr) m, particulier (fr) m, idiosyncratique (fr) German: eigenartig (de), eigentümlich (de), spezifisch (de), idiosynkratisch (de) Hungarian: sajátos (hu) Italian: idiosincrasico, idiosincratico Kazakh: ерекше (erekşe) Norwegian: Bokmål: idiosynkratisk Polish: specyficzny (pl) m Portuguese: idiossincrásico (pt), idiossincrático (pt) Romanian: idiosincratic, idiosincrazic Russian: персона́льный (ru) (personálʹnyj), своеобразный (ru) (svojeobraznyj), уникальный (ru) (unikalʹnyj), характерный (ru) (xarakternyj), отличительный (ru) (otličitelʹnyj) Scottish Gaelic: sònraichte Serbo-Croatian: idiosinkratičan, specifičan (sh), karakterističan (sh) Spanish: idiosincrásico, idiosincrático Swedish: idiosynkratisk (sv), säregen (sv), egenartad (sv)

Further reading

• “idiosyncratic”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.