peculiar: Meaning and Definition of
pe•cu•liar
Pronunciation: (pi-kyl'yur), [key]
— adj.
- strange; queer; odd: peculiar happenings.
- uncommon; unusual: the peculiar hobby of stuffing and mounting bats.
- distinctive in nature or character from others.
- belonging characteristically (usually fol. by to): an expression peculiar to Canadians.
- belonging exclusively to some person, group, or thing: the peculiar properties of a drug.
- designating a star or galaxy with special properties that deviates from others of its spectral type or galaxy class.
—n.
- a property or privilege belonging exclusively or characteristically to a person.
- a particular parish or church that is exempted from the jurisdiction of the ordinary or bishop in whose diocese it lies and is governed by another.
- Also calledspecial characters not generally included in standard type fonts, as phonetic symbols, mathematical symbols, etc.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.