character
distinctive feature or attribute; nature; disposition; makeup: It is against her character to be anything other than kind.
Not to be confused with:
caricature – a picture that exaggerates a person’s features to produce a comic or grotesque effect: Political cartoonists often use caricature to illustrate the character of their subject.
Abused, Confused, & Misused Words by Mary Embree Copyright © 2007, 2013 by Mary Embree
char·ac·ter
(kăr′ək-tər)n.
1.
a. The combination of mental characteristics and behavior that distinguishes a person or group. See Synonyms at disposition.
b. The distinguishing nature of something. See Synonyms at quality.
2.
a. Moral strength; integrity: an educational program designed to develop character.
b. Public estimation of someone; reputation: personal attacks that damaged her character.
3. Biology A structure, function, or attribute of an organism, influenced by genetic, environmental, and developmental factors.
4.
a. A person considered as having a specific quality or attribute: "Being a man of the world and a public character, [he] took everything as a matter of course" (George Eliot).
b. A person considered funny or eccentric: catcalls from some character in the back row.
5.
a. A person portrayed in an artistic piece, such as a drama or novel.
b. A person or animal portrayed with a personality in comics or animation: a cartoon character.
c. Characterization in fiction or drama: a script that is weak in plot but strong in character.
d. Status or role; capacity: in his character as the father.
6. A description of a person's attributes, traits, or abilities.
7. A formal written statement as to competency and dependability, given by an employer to a former employee; a recommendation.
8.
a. A mark or symbol used in a writing system.
b. A Chinese character.
9. Computers
a. One of a set of symbols, such as letters or numbers, that are arranged to express information.
b. The numerical code representing such a character.
10. Mathematics The trace function of a representation.
11.
a. A style of printing or writing: "Here is the hand and seal of the Duke; you know the character" (Shakespeare).
b. A cipher or code for secret writing.
adj.
1. Of or relating to one's character.
2.
a. Specializing in the interpretation of often minor roles that emphasize fixed personality traits or specific physical characteristics: a character actor.
b. Of or relating to the interpretation of such roles by an actor: the character part of the hero's devoted mother.
3. Dedicated to the portrayal of a person with regard to distinguishing psychological or physical features: a character sketch.
tr.v. charac·tered, charac·ter·ing, charac·ters Archaic
Idioms: 1. To write, print, engrave, or inscribe.
2. To portray or describe; characterize.
in character
Consistent with someone's general character or behavior: behavior that was totally in character.
out of character
Inconsistent with someone's general character or behavior: a response so much out of character that it amazed me.
[Middle English carecter, distinctive mark, imprint on the soul, from Old French caractere, from Latin charactēr, from Greek kharaktēr, from kharassein, to inscribe, from kharax, kharak-, pointed stick.]
char′ac·ter·less adj.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
character
(ˈkærɪktə)n
1. the combination of traits and qualities distinguishing the individual nature of a person or thing
2. one such distinguishing quality; characteristic
3. moral force; integrity: a man of character.
4.
a. reputation, esp a good reputation
b. (as modifier): character assassination.
5. a summary or account of a person's qualities and achievements; testimonial: my last employer gave me a good character.
6. capacity, position, or status: he spoke in the character of a friend rather than a father.
7. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a person represented in a play, film, story, etc; role
8. an outstanding person: one of the great characters of the century.
9. informal an odd, eccentric, or unusual person: he's quite a character.
10. an informal word for person: a shady character.
11. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) a symbol used in a writing system, such as a letter of the alphabet
12. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) printing Also called: sort any single letter, numeral, punctuation mark, or symbol cast as a type
13. (Computer Science) computing any letter, numeral, etc, which is a unit of information and can be represented uniquely by a binary pattern
14. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) a style of writing or printing
15. (Genetics) genetics any structure, function, attribute, etc, in an organism, which may or may not be determined by a gene or group of genes
16. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) a short prose sketch of a distinctive type of person, usually representing a vice or virtue
17. in character typical of the apparent character of a person or thing
18. out of character not typical of the apparent character of a person or thing
vb (tr)
19. (Printing, Lithography & Bookbinding) to write, print, inscribe, or engrave
20. rare to portray or represent
[C14: from Latin: distinguishing mark, from Greek kharaktēr engraver's tool, from kharassein to engrave, stamp]
ˈcharacterful adj
ˈcharacterless adj
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
char•ac•ter
(ˈkær ɪk tər)n.
1. the aggregate of features and traits that form the individual nature of a person or thing.
2. one such feature or trait; characteristic.
3. moral or ethical quality: a woman of strong character.
4. qualities of honesty, fortitude, etc.; integrity.
5. reputation: a stain on one's character.
6. distinctive, often interesting qualities: an old pub with a lot of character.
7. a person, esp. with reference to behavior or personality: a suspicious character.
8. an odd, eccentric, or unusual person.
9. a person represented in a drama, story, etc.
10. a role, as in a play or film.
11. status or capacity: in his character of a justice of the peace.
12. a symbol used in a system of writing: Chinese characters.
13. a significant visual mark or symbol.
14. an account of a person's qualities, abilities, etc.; reference.
15. (in 17th- and 18th-century literature) a sketch of a particular virtue or vice represented in a person or type.
16. any trait, function, structure, or substance of an organism resulting from the effect of one or more genes.
17. any encoded unit of computer-usable data representing a symbol, as a letter, number, or puncuation mark, or a space, carriage return, etc.
18. a cipher or cipher message.
adj. 19. (of a theatrical role) having or requiring eccentric, comedic, ethnic, or other distinctive traits.
20. (of an actor) acting or specializing in such roles.
v.t. Archaic. 21. to portray; describe.
22. to engrave; inscribe.
Idioms: in (or out of) character,
a. in accord with (or in violation of) one's usual behavior and disposition.
b. in accordance with (or deviating from) behavior appropriate to the role assumed by an actor.
[1275–1325; Middle English caractere < Middle French < Latin charactēr < Greek charaktḗr graving tool, its mark]
char′ac•ter•ful, adj.
char′ac•ter•less, adj.
syn: character, personality refer to the sum of the characteristics possessed by a person. character refers esp. to the moral qualities and ethical standards that make up the inner nature of a person: a man of sterling character. personality refers particularly to outer characteristics, as wittiness or charm, that determine the impression that a person makes upon others: a pleasing personality. See also reputation.
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
character
, reputation - Character is what one is; reputation is what one is thought to be by others.See also related terms for reputation.
Farlex Trivia Dictionary. © 2012 Farlex, Inc. All rights reserved.
Character
See Also: PERSONAL TRAITS, REPUTATION
- As the sun is best seen at its rising and setting, so men’s native dispositions are clearest seen when they are children and when they are dying —Robert Boyle
- A character is like an acrostic … read it forward, backward, or across, it still spells the same thing —Ralph Waldo Emerson
- Character is like a tree, and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing —Abraham Lincoln
- Character is like white paper; if once blotted, it can hardly ever be made to appear white as before —Joel Hawes
- A character, like a kettle, once mended always wants mending —Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- Character, like porcelain ware, must be painted before it is glazed. There can be no change after it is burned in —Henry Ward Beecher
- A man of words and not of deeds is like a garden full of weeds. And when the weeds begin to grow, it’s like a garden full of snow —Nursery rhyme
This dates back to the eighteenth century.
- The reputation of a man is like his shadow, gigantic when it precedes him, and pigmy in its proportions when it follows —Alexandre de Talleyrand
- Some people, like modern shops, hang everything in their windows and when one goes inside nothing is to be found —Berthold Auerbach
- The soundness of his nature was like the pure paste under a fine glaze —Edith Wharton
- A vein of iron buried inside her moral frame, like a metal armature inside a clay statue —Carlos Baker
- Your moral character must be not only pure, but, like Caesar’s wife, unsuspected —Lord Chesterfield
Similes Dictionary, 1st Edition. © 1988 The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.
character
A number, letter, or symbol.
Dictionary of Unfamiliar Words by Diagram Group Copyright © 2008 by Diagram Visual Information Limited
ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:
| Noun | 1. |  character - an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story); "she is the main character in the novel"imaginary being, imaginary creature - a creature of the imagination; a person that exists only in legends or myths or fiction |
| 2. | character - a characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something; "each town has a quality all its own"; "the radical character of our demands" attribute, dimension, property - a construct whereby objects or individuals can be distinguished; "self-confidence is not an endearing property" texture - the essential quality of something; "the texture of Neapolitan life" | |
| 3. | character - the inherent complex of attributes that determines a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions; "education has for its object the formation of character"- Herbert Spencer trait - a distinguishing feature of your personal nature personality - the complex of all the attributes--behavioral, temperamental, emotional and mental--that characterize a unique individual; "their different reactions reflected their very different personalities"; "it is his nature to help others" spirit - a fundamental emotional and activating principle determining one's character thoughtfulness - the trait of thinking carefully before acting responsibleness, responsibility - a form of trustworthiness; the trait of being answerable to someone for something or being responsible for one's conduct; "he holds a position of great responsibility" integrity - moral soundness; "he expects to find in us the common honesty and integrity of men of business"; "they admired his scrupulous professional integrity" | |
| 4. | character - an actor's portrayal of someone in a play; "she played the part of Desdemona" personation, portrayal, characterization, enactment - acting the part of a character on stage; dramatically representing the character by speech and action and gesture bit part, minor role - a small role heavy - a serious (or tragic) role in a play hero - the principal character in a play or movie or novel or poem ingenue - the role of an innocent artless young woman in a play name part, title role - the role of the character after whom the play is named heroine - the main good female character in a work of fiction | |
| 5. |  character - a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities); "a real character"; "a strange character"; "a friendly eccentric"; "the capable type"; "a mental case" | |
| 6. | character - good repute; "he is a man of character" reputation, repute - the state of being held in high esteem and honor | |
| 7. | character - a formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential future employer describing the person's qualifications and dependability; "requests for character references are all too often answered evasively" good word, recommendation, testimonial - something that recommends (or expresses commendation of) a person or thing as worthy or desirable | |
| 8. |  character - a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters"printed symbol, written symbol - a written or printed symbol allograph - a variant form of a grapheme, as `m' or `M' or a handwritten version of that grapheme check character - a character that is added to the end of a block of transmitted data and used to check the accuracy of the transmission superscript, superior - a character or symbol set or printed or written above and immediately to one side of another character subscript, inferior - a character or symbol set or printed or written beneath or slightly below and to the side of another character ASCII character - any member of the standard code for representing characters by binary numbers ligature - character consisting of two or more letters combined into one capital letter, majuscule, uppercase, upper-case letter, capital - one of the large alphabetic characters used as the first letter in writing or printing proper names and sometimes for emphasis; "printers once kept the type for capitals and for small letters in separate cases; capitals were kept in the upper half of the type case and so became known as upper-case letters" lowercase, lower-case letter, minuscule, small letter - the characters that were once kept in bottom half of a compositor's type case type - printed characters; "small type is hard to read" percent sign, percentage sign - a sign (`%') used to indicate that the number preceding it should be understood as a proportion multiplied by 100 diesis, double dagger, double obelisk - a character used in printing to indicate a cross reference or footnote alphabetic character, letter of the alphabet, letter - the conventional characters of the alphabet used to represent speech; "his grandmother taught him his letters" blank, space - a blank character used to separate successive words in writing or printing; "he said the space is the most important character in the alphabet" phonetic symbol - a written character used in phonetic transcription of represent a particular speech sound mathematical symbol - a character that is used to indicates a mathematical relation or operation rune, runic letter - any character from an ancient Germanic alphabet used in Scandinavia from the 3rd century to the Middle Ages; "each rune had its own magical significance" pictograph - a graphic character used in picture writing ideogram, ideograph - a graphic character that indicates the meaning of a thing without indicating the sounds used to say it; "Chinese characters are ideograms" radical - a character conveying the lexical meaning of a logogram stenograph - a shorthand character | |
| 9. | character - (genetics) an attribute (structural or functional) that is determined by a gene or group of genes attribute - an abstraction belonging to or characteristic of an entity unit character - (genetics) a character inherited on an all-or-none basis and dependent on the presence of a single gene genetic science, genetics - the branch of biology that studies heredity and variation in organisms | |
| Verb | 1. | character - engrave or inscribe characters on |
Based on WordNet 3.0, Farlex clipart collection. © 2003-2012 Princeton University, Farlex Inc.
character
noun
1. personality, nature, make-up, cast, constitution, bent, attributes, temper, temperament, complexion, disposition, individuality, marked traits There is a side to his character which you haven't seen yet.
2. nature, kind, quality, constitution, calibre Moscow's reforms were socialist in character.
3. (Informal) person, sort, individual, type, guy (informal), fellow What an unpleasant character he is!
4. reputation, honour, integrity, good name, rectitude, uprightness He's begun a series of attacks on my character.
5. courage, resolution, determination, guts (informal), pluck, grit, bravery, backbone, fortitude, staying power, strength of mind, dauntlessness She showed real character in her refusal to give up.
7. eccentric, card (informal), original, nut (slang), flake (slang, chiefly U.S.), oddity, oddball (informal), odd bod (informal), queer fish (Brit. informal), wacko or whacko (informal) He'll be sadly missed. He was a real character.
8. symbol, mark, sign, letter, figure, type, device, logo, emblem, rune, cipher, hieroglyph Chinese characters inscribed on a plaque
Quotations
"Genius is formed in quiet, character in the stream of human life" [Goethe Torquato Tasso]
"Character is much easier kept than recovered" [Thomas Paine The American Crisis]
"A man's character is his fate" [Heraclitus On the Universe]
"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing" [Abraham Lincoln]
"Fate and character are the same concept" [Novalis Heinrich von Ofterdingen]
"Genius is formed in quiet, character in the stream of human life" [Goethe Torquato Tasso]
"Character is much easier kept than recovered" [Thomas Paine The American Crisis]
"A man's character is his fate" [Heraclitus On the Universe]
"Character is like a tree and reputation like its shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing" [Abraham Lincoln]
"Fate and character are the same concept" [Novalis Heinrich von Ofterdingen]
Collins Thesaurus of the English Language – Complete and Unabridged 2nd Edition. 2002 © HarperCollins Publishers 1995, 2002
character
noun1. The combination of emotional, intellectual, and moral qualities that distinguishes an individual:
3. A distinctive element:
4. A statement attesting to personal qualifications, character, and dependability:
5. Public estimation of someone:
Informal: rep.
6. An important, influential person:
The American Heritage® Roget's Thesaurus. Copyright © 2013, 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
Translations
حَرْفٌ هِجائيسُمْعَه، شُهْرَهشَخْصٌ غَريبُ الأطْوارشَخْصِيَّةشَخْصِيَّه
postavaznakcharakterčíslopísmeno
karakterrolleryrygteskikkelse
hahmoluonneluonteenpiirremerkkihenkilö
karakterlik
karakterbetűjellem
persónaskapfestaskapgerî, lundernifurîufugl, sérkennilegurletur
特質登場人物
등장인물특성
apibūdinimasapibūdintiasmenybėbruožasbūdingas
burtspersonāžspersonībarakstu zīmeraksturīgas iezīmes
personaj
zvláštny človek
oseba v igriznačaj
karakterkarakteristikalikosobina
karaktärpersonlighetrolltecken
ตัวละครอุปนิสัย
đặc điểmnhân vật
character
[ˈkærɪktəʳ]A. N
1. (= nature) [of thing] → carácter m, naturaleza f; [of person] → carácter m, personalidad f
a man of good character → un hombre de buena reputación
to bear a good character → tener buena reputación
that is more in character for him → eso es más típico de él
his sudden concern for me was completely out of character (for him) → su inesperado interés por mí no era nada típico de él
a man of good character → un hombre de buena reputación
to bear a good character → tener buena reputación
that is more in character for him → eso es más típico de él
his sudden concern for me was completely out of character (for him) → su inesperado interés por mí no era nada típico de él
3. (= energy, determination) → carácter m
a man of character → un hombre de carácter
he lacks character → le falta carácter
a man of character → un hombre de carácter
he lacks character → le falta carácter
4. (= person) → tipo/a m/f, individuo/a m/f
he's a very odd character → es un tipo muy raro
he's quite a character → es todo un personaje
he's a very odd character → es un tipo muy raro
he's quite a character → es todo un personaje
5. (Comput, Typ, Bio) → carácter m
B. CPD character actor N → actor m de carácter
character actress N → actriz f de carácter
character assassination N → difamación f
character code N (Comput) → código m de caracteres
character part N (Theat) → papel m de carácter
character reference N → informe m, referencia f
character set N (Typ) → juego m de caracteres
character sketch N → esbozo m de carácter
character space N (Typ) → espacio m (de carácter)
character actress N → actriz f de carácter
character assassination N → difamación f
character code N (Comput) → código m de caracteres
character part N (Theat) → papel m de carácter
character reference N → informe m, referencia f
character set N (Typ) → juego m de caracteres
character sketch N → esbozo m de carácter
character space N (Typ) → espacio m (de carácter)
Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005
character
[ˈkærɪktər] n (= nature) [person] → caractère m; [thing] → nature f
Give me some idea of his character → Décris-moi un peu son caractère.
to be in character (= typical) [behaviour]
The diplomat's actions had been entirely in character → Les actions du diplomate avaient été tout à son image.
It was quite in character for Rachel to put her baby first → C'était tout à l'image de Rachel de faire passer son bébé avant tout le reste.
out of character (= not typical) [behaviour]
The frank confession is out of character for a man who guards his private life jealously → La confession sans détour ne ressemble pas à un homme qui protège jalousement sa vie privée., Cette confession sans détour est inattendue de la part d'un homme qui protège jalousement sa vie privée.
to be out of character for sb to do sth → ne pas ressembler à qn de faire qch
a person of good character (LAW) (= with no criminal record) → une personne sans casier judiciaire
a man of previous good character (LAW) → un homme au casier judiciaire vierge
Give me some idea of his character → Décris-moi un peu son caractère.
to be in character (= typical) [behaviour]
The diplomat's actions had been entirely in character → Les actions du diplomate avaient été tout à son image.
It was quite in character for Rachel to put her baby first → C'était tout à l'image de Rachel de faire passer son bébé avant tout le reste.
out of character (= not typical) [behaviour]
The frank confession is out of character for a man who guards his private life jealously → La confession sans détour ne ressemble pas à un homme qui protège jalousement sa vie privée., Cette confession sans détour est inattendue de la part d'un homme qui protège jalousement sa vie privée.
to be out of character for sb to do sth → ne pas ressembler à qn de faire qch
a person of good character (LAW) (= with no criminal record) → une personne sans casier judiciaire
a man of previous good character (LAW) → un homme au casier judiciaire vierge
(also strength of character) → force f de caractère
it takes character to do sth → il faut une grande force de caractère pour faire qch
it takes character to do sth → il faut une grande force de caractère pour faire qch
(= letter) [alphabet] → lettre fcharacter actor n → acteur/trice m/f de genrecharacter actress n → actrice f de genrecharacter assassination n → diffamation fcharacter-building [ˈkærɪktərbɪldɪŋ] adj [activity] → qui forge le caractère
to be character-building → forger le caractèrecharacter code n (COMPUTING) → code m de caractèrecharacter development n (= characterization) (in a novel, play, film) → traitement m des personnages
to be character-building → forger le caractèrecharacter code n (COMPUTING) → code m de caractèrecharacter development n (= characterization) (in a novel, play, film) → traitement m des personnages
Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005
character
n
(= nature) → Charakter m; (of people) → Wesen nt no pl, → Wesensart f; there’s quite a difference in character between them → sie sind wesensmäßig sehr verschieden; to be in character for somebody → typisch für jdn sein; it is out of character for him to behave like that → solches Benehmen ist untypisch für ihn; it’s out of character for him to do that → es ist eigentlich nicht seine Art, so etwas zu tun; to be of good/bad character → ein guter/schlechter Mensch sein
no pl (= individuality, of towns etc) → Charakter m; (of person) → Persönlichkeit f; she/it has no character → sie/es hat keine eigene Note; her face is full of character → sie hat ein Charaktergesicht
(= person in public life) → Persönlichkeit f, → Gestalt f; (= original person) → Original nt; (inf: = person) → Typ m (inf), → Type f (inf)
(= reference) → Zeugnis nt
character
in cpds (Theat) → Charakter-;character actor
n → Charakterdarsteller m
character assassination
n → Rufmord m
character
:character map
n (Comput) → Zeichentabelle f
character mapping
n (Comput) → Zeichenbelegung f
character part
n → Charakterrolle f
character reference
n → Referenz f
character set
n (Comput) → Zeichensatz m
character sketch
n → Charakterstudie f
character space
n (Comput) → Zeichenplatz m
character string
n (Comput) → Zeichenkette f
character witness
n (Jur) → Leumundszeuge m, → Leumundszeugin f
Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007
character
[ˈkærɪktəʳ] n (gen) (Comput) → carattere m; (in novel, play, film) → personaggio; (eccentric) → originale ma man of character → un uomo di polso
a person of good character → una persona a modo
it's quite in/out of character for him to be rude → è/non è nella sua natura essere maleducato
he's quite a character → è un tipo originale
Gothic characters → caratteri gotici
Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995
character
(ˈkӕrəktə) noun1. the set of qualities that make someone or something different from others; type. You can tell a man's character from his handwriting; Publicity of this character is not good for the firm.
2. a set of qualities that are considered admirable in some way. He showed great character in dealing with the danger.
3. reputation. They tried to damage his character.
4. a person in a play, novel etc. Rosencrantz is a minor character in Shakespeare's `Hamlet'.
5. an odd or amusing person. This fellow's quite a character!
6. a letter used in typing etc. Some characters on this typewriter are broken.
ˌcharacterˈistic adjective (negative uncharacteristic) typical (of a person etc). He spoke with characteristic shyness; That kind of behaviour is characteristic of him.
noun a typical quality. It is one of his characteristics to be obstinate.
ˌcharacteˈristically adverbˈcharacterize, ˈcharacterise verb
1. to be the obvious feature of. The giraffe is characterized by its long neck.
2. to describe (as). She characterized him as weak and indecisive.
ˌcharacteriˈzation, ˌcharacteriˈsation nounKernerman English Multilingual Dictionary © 2006-2013 K Dictionaries Ltd.
character
→ شَخْصِيَّة charakter, postava karakter, rolle Charakter, Figur χαρακτήρας carácter, personaje hahmo, luonne personnage karakter, lik carattere, personaggio 特質, 登場人物 등장인물, 특성 karakter, personage egenskap, rolle charakter, postać caráter, personagem персонаж, характер personlighet, roll ตัวละคร, อุปนิสัย karakter đặc điểm, nhân vật 人物, 特征Multilingual Translator © HarperCollins Publishers 2009
char·ac·ter
1. n. carácter;
2. calidad, naturaleza;
[actor, actress in a play or movie] personaje.
___ disorder → trastorno del ___.
English-Spanish Medical Dictionary © Farlex 2012