idiosyncratic

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UK/ˌɪd.i.əʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/UK/-ˌsɪŋ-/Canada, US/ˌɪd.i.oʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæt.ɪk/Canada, US[ˌɪd.i.oʊ.sɪŋˈkɹæɾ.ɪk]

adjective

Peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.

Less commonScrabble 21

Meanings

adjectiveidiosyncratic (comparative more idiosyncratic, superlative most idiosyncratic)

comparative more idiosyncratic · superlative most idiosyncratic

  1. Peculiar to a specific individual; eccentric.

    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
    4 more examples

    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

    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

    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

    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

Synonyms & antonyms

adjectivepeculiar to the individual

Synonym sets from Open English WordNet, CC BY 4.0.

Origin

Translations

Catalan idiosincràtic
  • idiosincràticpeculiar to a specific individual
Chinese Mandarin 獨特的 /独特的, 特異的 /特异的
  • 獨特的 /独特的 (dútè de)peculiar to a specific individual
  • 特異的 /特异的 (tèyì de)peculiar to a specific individual
Czech osobitý, specifický
  • osobitýpeculiar to a specific individual
  • specifickýpeculiar to a specific individual
  • výstřednípeculiar to a specific individual
  • charakteristickýpeculiar to a specific individual
Dutch eigenzinnig, eigenaardig
  • eigenzinnigpeculiar to a specific individual
  • eigenaardigpeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosyncratischpeculiar to a specific individual
  • karakteristiekpeculiar to a specific individual
Esperanto idiosinkrazia
  • idiosinkraziapeculiar to a specific individual
Estonian idiosünkraatiline, isikuomane
  • idiosünkraatilinepeculiar to a specific individual
  • isikuomanepeculiar to a specific individual
Finnish omaperäinen, omalaatuinen
  • omaperäinenpeculiar to a specific individual
  • omalaatuinenpeculiar to a specific individual
French singulier, particulier
  • singulierpeculiar to a specific individual
  • particulierpeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosyncratiquepeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosyncrasiquepeculiar to a specific individual
German eigenartig, eigentümlich
  • eigenartigpeculiar to a specific individual
  • eigentümlichpeculiar to a specific individual
  • spezifischpeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosynkratischpeculiar to a specific individual
Hungarian sajátos
  • sajátospeculiar to a specific individual
Italian idiosincrasico, idiosincratico
  • idiosincrasicopeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosincraticopeculiar to a specific individual
Norwegian Bokmål idiosynkratisk
  • idiosynkratiskpeculiar to a specific individual
Polish specyficzny
  • specyficznypeculiar to a specific individual
Portuguese idiossincrásico, idiossincrático
  • idiossincrásicopeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiossincráticopeculiar to a specific individual
Romanian idiosincratic, idiosincrazic
  • idiosincraticpeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosincrazicpeculiar to a specific individual
Russian персона́льный, своеобразный
  • персона́льный (personálʹnyj)peculiar to a specific individual
  • своеобразный (svojeobraznyj)peculiar to a specific individual
  • уникальный (unikalʹnyj)peculiar to a specific individual
  • характерный (xarakternyj)peculiar to a specific individual
  • отличительный (otličitelʹnyj)peculiar to a specific individual
Scottish Gaelic sònraichte
  • sònraichtepeculiar to a specific individual
Spanish idiosincrásico, idiosincrático
  • idiosincrásicopeculiar to a specific individual
  • idiosincráticopeculiar to a specific individual
Swedish idiosynkratisk, säregen
  • idiosynkratiskpeculiar to a specific individual
  • säregenpeculiar to a specific individual
  • egenartadpeculiar to a specific individual

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with idiosyncratic

All rhymes →
Cite this entry
APA

idiosyncratic. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiosyncratic

MLA

“idiosyncratic.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiosyncratic. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “idiosyncratic,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/idiosyncratic.

Source: idiosyncratic on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.