Adjacent Words

typical definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

adj
1: exhibiting the qualities or characteristics that identify a group or kind or category; "a typical American girl"; "a typical suburban community"; "the typical car owner drives 10,000 miles a year"; "a painting typical of the Impressionist school"; "a typical romantic poem"; "a typical case of arteritis" [ant: atypical, untypical]
2: of a feature that helps to distinguish a person or thing; "Jerusalem has a distinctive Middle East flavor"- Curtis Wilkie; "that is typical of you!" [syn: distinctive, typical]
3: conforming to a type; "the typical (or normal) American"; "typical teenage behavior"

Merriam Webster's

adjective Etymology: Late Latin typicalis, from typicus, from Greek typikos, from typos model — more at type Date: 1609 1. constituting or having the nature of a type ; symbolic 2. a. combining or exhibiting the essential characteristics of a group <typical suburban houses> b. conforming to a type <a specimen typical of the species> Synonyms: see regular • typicality noun • typicalness noun

Oxford Reference Dictionary

adj. 1 serving as a characteristic example; representative. 2 characteristic of or serving to distinguish a type. 3 (often foll. by of) conforming to expected behaviour, attitudes, etc. (is typical of them to forget). 4 symbolic. Derivatives: typicality n. typically adv. Etymology: med.L typicalis f. L typicus f. Gk tupikos (as TYPE)

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Typical Typ"ic*al, a. [L. typicus, Gr. ?, from ? type: cf. F. typique. See Type.] 1. Of the nature of a type; representing something by a form, model, or resemblance; emblematic; prefigurative. The Levitical priesthood was only typical of the Christian. --Atterbury. 2. (Nat. Hist.) Combining or exhibiting the essential characteristics of a group; as, a typical genus. -- Typ"ic*al*ly, adv. -- Typ"ic*al*ness, n.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

Frequency: The word is one of the 3000 most common words in English. 1. You use typical to describe someone or something that shows the most usual characteristics of a particular type of person or thing, and is therefore a good example of that type. Cheney is everyone's image of a typical cop: a big white guy, six foot, 220 pounds... ADJ 2. If a particular action or feature is typical of someone or something, it shows their usual qualities or characteristics. This reluctance to move towards a democratic state is typical of totalitarian regimes... With typical energy he found new journalistic outlets. = characteristic ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ of n 3. If you say that something is typical of a person, situation, or thing, you are criticizing them or complaining about them and saying that they are just as bad or disappointing as you expected them to be. She threw her hands into the air. 'That is just typical of you, isn't it?' ADJ: usu v-link ADJ, oft ADJ of n [feelings]

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Figurative, emblematical, emblematic, indicative, representative.

Moby Thesaurus

absolute, archetypal, categorical, characteristic, classic, classical, classificational, classificatory, common, commonplace, connotative, consummate, conventional, customary, defining, demonstrative, denominative, denotative, designative, diagnostic, differential, distinctive, distinguishing, divisional, divisionary, emblematic, evidential, exemplary, exhibitive, expressive, figural, figurative, general, ideal, identifying, ideographic, idiosyncratic, implicative, in character, in keeping, indicating, indicative, indicatory, individual, meaningful, metaphorical, model, naming, natural, naturalistic, naturistic, normal, orderly, ordinal, ordinary, orthodox, paradigmatic, particular, pathognomonic, peculiar, perfect, precedential, prototypal, quintessential, realistic, regular, representative, run-of-the-mill, sample, semantic, semiotic, signalizing, significant, significative, signifying, special, specific, standard, subdivisional, suggestive, symbolic, symbolistic, symbological, symptomatic, symptomatologic, taxonomic, to be expected, true to form, true to type, typal, typic, unexceptional, usual