1
Core meaning
A distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
Example
Leaf shape is a heritable trait in this species.
trait
/treɪt/ · TRAYTnoun
A distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
Use trait to express this relationship precisely: a distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
What trait Really Means
The word becomes easier to use when its closely related senses are separated and compared.
2
Common noun frame
Use this noun in a complete noun phrase, adding the complement that identifies what it refers to when needed.
Example
Patience was one of her defining traits.
3
Analytical distinction
Choose it when this exact concept matters; a related term may describe its cause, evidence, or opposite instead.
Example
The two varieties share several physical traits.
Use trait Naturally
Notice how the surrounding noun or clause reveals the exact shade of meaning.
Leaf shape is a heritable trait in this species.
Patience was one of her defining traits.
The two varieties share several physical traits.
Precision Matters
Trait overlaps with several common words, but each carries a different emphasis.
trait
vs.Means a distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
characteristic of
Means typical of or distinctive to a person, group, period, or category.
trait
vs.Means a distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
distinctive
Means having a characteristic that makes something recognisably different from others.
trait
vs.Means a distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
idiosyncratic
Means peculiar or distinctive to an individual.
trait
vs.Means a distinguishing quality, feature, or characteristic of a person, organism, or thing.
lineage
Means descent from a common ancestor or a sequence of development from an earlier predecessor.
Test trait in Context
The feature is a distinguishing characteristic.
1
The bird's unusually curved beak is a distinctive ___ that separates it from related species.