Alright, this is bugging me. From The Brady Bunch:


Cindy: Dad.

Mike: Yes, honey.

Cindy: Can you help me with this word?

Mike: Well, let’s see. Where? Idiosyncrasy? Well, that means "peculiarity, or something odd in the way a person behaves."

Greg: What's a word like that doing in a kid's book?

Cindy: I happen to be reading A Farewell to Arms, by Ernest Hemingway.

As fun as that is, here's what bugs me: at no point in that novel does any form of the word idiosyncrasy appear. Seriously. I've looked. Besides, it's not a Hemingwayish word at all. Hemingway words are more like guns, scum, rain, boots, leather, dark, trucks, drinks, horses, and girls. Not so much with the polysyllabic nouns. Well, okay, ambulances. And gonorrhea.

And although it would make plenty of sense for idiosyncrasy to appear in an introduction to the novel, with Hemingway's writing style being so idiosyncratic... Mike is holding the book halfway open. They're not looking at the intro.

Oh, man, you guys. As it turns out, television shows are fictional and silly. But still awesome for teaching a bunch of us the meaning of the word idiosyncrasy.

Even though Mike Brady already did my work for me today, let's plow right on in and explore this word. You'll probably recognize some meaningful Greek bits in it, like syn, meaning "with, or together." That's the same syn or sym that we see in words like symbol, symphony, symmetry, sympathy, and sim____co.

Can you recall that last one? It means "pleasant or likeable: able to get along well together."

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.) 

The word "idiosyncrasy" has Greek bits that literally mean "a mixing together of one's own (characteristics)."

Let's break that down:
   idios means "one's own," 
   syn means "together,"
   and krasis means "mixture."

The word came through French into English, where it means pretty much the same thing it does in Greek: "an odd little way that some specific person does something." In other words, your idiosyncrasies are the weird little habits that you have.

So, something idiosyncratic is a bit weird or unusual, and unique to a specific person.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Adjective: "an idiosyncratic theory;" "this idiosyncratic approach."

Other forms: 

Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncrasies, idiosyncratically.

how to use it:

"Idiosyncratic" is a common, somewhat formal word, with enough syllables to sound stuffy or overly academic. Sometimes that's the mood you're going for!

It's good for describing someone's utterly unique style or way of doing things, and it's more emphatic than synonyms like "unique," "peculiar," and "distinctive."

You might talk about someone's idiosyncratic style, art, charm, flair, voice, writing, commentary, music, cinematography, etc.

examples:

"[The set designer] Myerscough-Jones approached each [BBC program] with idiosyncratic flair, bringing his signature sombre palette and ingenuity." 
   — David Jays, The Guardian, 4 May 2010

"There was nothing idiosyncratic about Brinker unless you saw him from behind; I did as he turned to close the door after him. The flaps of his gabardine jacket parted slightly over his healthy rump, and it is that, without any sense of derision at all, that I recall as Brinker's salient characteristic, those healthy, determined, not over-exaggerated but definite and substantial buttocks."
   — John Knowles, A Separate Peace, 1959

has this page helped you understand "idiosyncratic"?

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

study it:

Explain the meaning of "idiosyncratic" without saying "distinctive" or "peculiar."

try it out:

Fill in the blanks: "(Some kind of feature) is idiosyncratic to (someone's) (art, music, speech, writing, handwriting, cooking, or other type of creating)."

Example: "Dashes all over the place are idiosyncratic to Emily Dickinson's poetry."

If you like, use this space to write. (To save your work, copy and paste it into an email or a document.)

before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for February: Word Choice Chuckles!

I’ll give you a snippet of text that I spotted in the wild, with one word or phrase removed and its meaning described. See if you can fill in a word or phrase that'll give the reader a good chuckle. Be cheesy. Be punny. Get in there and make me proud.

Here's an example:

"This comes at a time of _____ in the mattress industry." 
   — Dan Solomon, Texas Monthly, 15 December 2017

Meaning of the missing word: "strife."

Answer: "unrest."

Try this one today:

"Ant-Man and the Wasp: can Marvel's tiniest heroes _____ the whole franchise?"
   — Ben Child, The Guardian, 13 January 2023

Meaning of the missing word: "sustain."

To see the answer, scroll all the way down.

review this word:

1. The opposite of IDIOSYNCRATIC is

A. STANDARD.
B. BRILLIANT.
C. POORLY TIMED.

2. The historian Jared Diamond argues that, no matter how _____ they may be, idiosyncratic people don't matter much in the grand scheme of things.

A. cruel or unfeeling
B. crude or animalistic
C. exceptional or extraordinary

Answers to the review questions: 1. A 2. C Word Choice Chuckle: "Ant-Man and the Wasp: can Marvel's tiniest heroes carry the whole franchise?"    — Ben Child, The Guardian, 13 January 2023

a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words. From my blog: On vocabulary...       36 ways to study words.       Why we forget words, & how to remember them.       How to use sophisticated words without being awkward. On writing...       How to improve any sentence.       How to motivate our kids to write.       How to stop procrastinating and start writing.       How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count. From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com. A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.