Dictionary

idiosyncratic en · ADJ

Pronunciation

• /ˌɪd.i.oʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/ (Canada, General-American)
• /ˌəd.i.ɐʉ.səŋˈkɹɛt.ək/ (New-Zealand)
• [ˌəd.i.ɐʉ.səŋˈkɹɛɾ.ək] (New-Zealand)
• /-ˌsɪŋ-/ (Canada, General-American)
• [ˌɪd.i.əʉ.sɪŋˈkɹæɾ.ɪk] (Australia)
• /-ˌsɪŋ-/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• /ˌɪd.i.əʉ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/ (Australia)
• /-ˌsɪŋ-/ (Australia)
• /ˌɪd.i.əʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/ (Received-Pronunciation)
• (Texas) audio
• [ˌɪd.i.oʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæɾ.ɪk] (Canada, General-American)
• /-ˌsəŋ-/ (New-Zealand)

Etymology

From idiosyncrasy + -ic. By surface analysis, idio- + syn- + -cratic.

Meanings

1. Peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.
   • 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. 1886 January 5, Robert Louis Stevenson, Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC:
   • The name “Quentin” clearly operates as a lucky charm if you’re an idiosyncratic film-maker, especially if you deal with sudden death, craziness and Z-movie Americana. 2021 July 4, Jonathan Romney, “‘I want to make people laugh’: Quentin Dupieux, the fun auteur of French cinema”, in The Observer, →ISSN, archived from the original on 16 Mar 2022:
   • It was no merely idiosyncratic experience, for the youth had the same: it was love! 1891, George MacDonald, chapter 12, in The Flight of the Shadow:
   • I’m not saying that [Charlie] Kaufman’s film will be enshrined as a classic, as those [Stanley] Kubrick films are. It’s too idiosyncratic and demanding for that: many viewers will be thinking of ending it halfway through 2020 September 1, Nicholas Barber, “Five stars for I'm Thinking of Ending Things”, in BBC:
   • 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. 1982 April 26, Michael Walsh, “Music: A Fresh Falstaff in Los Angeles”, in Time, archived from the original on 21 Oct 2010:

Forms

Deriveds

idiosyncratical · nonidiosyncratic · unidiosyncratic · idiosyncraticity · idiosyncratic reaction · idiosyncratically

Relateds

idiosyncrasy

Translations (48)

pl specyficzny (peculiar to a specific individual) · fr idiosyncratique (peculiar to a specific individual) · ru отличительный (peculiar to a specific individual) · fi omalaatuinen (peculiar to a specific individual) · fr idiosyncrasique (peculiar to a specific individual) · nl idiosyncratisch (peculiar to a specific individual) · ca idiosincràtic (peculiar to a specific individual) · ro idiosincratic (peculiar to a specific individual) · et isikuomane (peculiar to a specific individual) · nl karakteristiek (peculiar to a specific individual) · pt idiossincrásico (peculiar to a specific individual) · hu sajátos (peculiar to a specific individual) · ru уникальный (peculiar to a specific individual) · et idiosünkraatiline (peculiar to a specific individual) · fr particulier (peculiar to a specific individual) · sv idiosynkratisk (peculiar to a specific individual) · es idiosincrático (peculiar to a specific individual) · de idiosynkratisch (peculiar to a specific individual) · sv egenartad (peculiar to a specific individual) · cmn 獨特的 /独特的 (peculiar to a specific individual) · cs specifický (peculiar to a specific individual) · cmn 特異的 /特异的 (peculiar to a specific individual) · de eigentümlich (peculiar to a specific individual) · it idiosincrasico (peculiar to a specific individual) · cs osobitý (peculiar to a specific individual) · cs charakteristický (peculiar to a specific individual) · pt idiossincrático (peculiar to a specific individual) · gd sònraichte (peculiar to a specific individual) · ro idiosincrazic (peculiar to a specific individual) · kk ерекше (peculiar to a specific individual) · nl eigenzinnig (peculiar to a specific individual) · de eigenartig (peculiar to a specific individual) · nl eigenaardig (peculiar to a specific individual) · fr singulier (peculiar to a specific individual) · sh specifičan (peculiar to a specific individual) · sh idiosinkratičan (peculiar to a specific individual) · fi omaperäinen (peculiar to a specific individual) · cs výstřední (peculiar to a specific individual) · es idiosincrásico (peculiar to a specific individual) · it idiosincratico (peculiar to a specific individual) · de spezifisch (peculiar to a specific individual) · sh karakterističan (peculiar to a specific individual) · nb idiosynkratisk (peculiar to a specific individual) · ru характерный (peculiar to a specific individual) · sv säregen (peculiar to a specific individual) · ru своеобразный (peculiar to a specific individual) · ru персона́льный (peculiar to a specific individual) · hy իդիոսինկրատիկ (peculiar to a specific individual)