typical Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. adjective 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
  2. adjective satellite of a feature that helps to distinguish a person or thing
    distinctive.
    • Jerusalem has a distinctive Middle East flavor"- Curtis Wilkie
    • that is typical of you!
  3. adjective satellite conforming to a type
    • the typical (or normal) American
    • typical teenage behavior

WordNet

Typ"ic*al adjective
Etymology
L. typicus, Gr. , from type: cf. F. typique. See Type.
Definitions
  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.

Webster 1913