Definition of "defining characteristic" []

• A property held by all members of a class of object that is so distinctive that it is sufficient to determine membership in that class. A property that defines that which possesses it. (noun)

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• "Some economists have questioned the validity of the scarcity assumption of classical economics, including the Harvard economist John Kenneth Galbraith, who suggested that scarcity is no longer the defining characteristic of the post–World War II Western economy,17 because many nations—surely those in the G8—have enough fundamental resources such as food and shelter."