personification

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per·son·i·fi·ca·tion

(pər-sŏn′ə-fĭ-kā′shən)

1. The act of personifying.

2. A person or thing typifying a certain quality or idea; an embodiment or exemplification: "He's invisible, a walking personification of the Negative" (Ralph Ellison).

3. A figure of speech in which inanimate objects or abstractions are endowed with human qualities or are represented as possessing human form, as in Hunger sat shivering on the road or Flowers danced about the lawn. Also called prosopopeia.

4. Artistic representation of an abstract quality or idea as a person.

personification

(pɜːˌsɒnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən)

1. (Literary & Literary Critical Terms) the attribution of human characteristics to things, abstract ideas, etc, as for literary or artistic effect

2. (Art Terms) the representation of an abstract quality or idea in the form of a person, creature, etc, as in art and literature

3. a person or thing that personifies

4. a person or thing regarded as an embodiment of a quality: he is the personification of optimism.

per•son•i•fi•ca•tion

(pərˌsɒn ə fɪˈkeɪ ʃən)

n.

1. the attribution of a human nature or character to inanimate objects or abstract notions, esp. as a rhetorical figure.

2. the representation of a thing or abstraction in the form of a person, as in art.

3. an embodiment, as of a quality: He is the personification of tact.

[1745–55]

personification

the attribution of personality to an inanimate object or abstraction, as “the table tripped me.” Also called prosopopoeia. — personificative, adj.

personification

1. The representation of something as if it were a person or had human qualities, such as in “Death came and took her.”

2. Giving objects or concepts a personal living form.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	personification - a person who represents an abstract quality; "she is the personification of optimism" individual, mortal, person, somebody, someone, soul - a human being; "there was too much for one person to do" avatar, embodiment, incarnation - a new personification of a familiar idea; "the embodiment of hope"; "the incarnation of evil"; "the very avatar of cunning" queen - something personified as a woman who is considered the best or most important of her kind; "Paris is the queen of cities"; "the queen of ocean liners"
	2.	personification - representing an abstract quality or idea as a person or creature prosopopoeia figure of speech, trope, image, figure - language used in a figurative or nonliteral sense
	3.	personification - the act of attributing human characteristics to abstract ideas etc. incarnation embodiment - giving concrete form to an abstract concept

personification

noun embodiment, image, representation, recreation, portrayal, incarnation, likeness, semblance, epitome Janis Joplin was the personification of the '60s female rock singer.

personification

noun

A physical entity typifying an abstraction:

embodiment, exteriorization, externalization, incarnation, manifestation, materialization, objectification, personalization, substantiation, type.

Rhetoric: prosopopeia.

Translations

personifikacezosobnění

personifikacija

personification

[pɜːˌsɒnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən] N → personificación f
he is the personification of evil/kindness → es el mal personificado/la amabilidad personificada, es la personificación del mal/de la amabilidad

personification

[pə^rˌsɒnɪfɪˈkeɪʃ^ən] n

to be the personification of sth (= perfect example) → être la personnification de qch
Janis Joplin was the personification of the '60s female rock singer → Janis Joplin était la personnification de la chanteuse de rock des années soixante.

to be the personification of kindness (= extremely kind) → être la gentillesse personnifiée
to be the personification of evil → être la personnification du mal, être le mal personnifié

personification

n → Verkörperung f, → Personifizierung f; he is the personification of good taste → er ist der personifizierte gute Geschmack

personification

[pɜːˌsɒnɪfɪˈkeɪʃ/ən] n → personificazione f

References in classic literature ?

The personification of the Laws, and of their brethren the Laws in the world below, is one of the noblest and boldest figures of speech which occur in Plato.

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As described by Sola, this monster was the exaggerated personification of all the ages of cruelty, ferocity, and brutality from which he had descended.

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Count Ilya Rostov with the other members of the committee sat facing Bagration and, as the very personification of Moscow hospitality, did the honors to the prince.

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Every moment of the man's waking life was filled with morbid thought of hatred--he had become mentally as he was physically in outward appearance, the personification of the blighting emotion of Hate.

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The man was a tall, lean, haggard personification of fanaticism, bearing on his breast this label,--A WANTON GOSPELLER,--which betokened that he had dared to give interpretations of Holy Writ unsanctioned by the infallible judgment of the civil and religious rulers.

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So, whereas the ape-man had gone carelessly before, he now became the personification of noiseless stealth.

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He stole a sidelong glance at her - she was the personification of daintiness from the black patent shoes showing beneath the flouncing of her skirt, to the white hat with its clusters of roses.

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Mary's white muslin dress suited her particularly well, and she seemed the personification of innocence and love as she sat, now bending her head, now gazing up at the very tall and handsome man who was speaking to her with particular tenderness and self-restraint, as if he feared by word or gesture to offend or sully her angelic purity.

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The "Chalcedonian giant," Thrasymachus, of whom we have already heard in the Phaedrus, is the personification of the Sophists, according to Plato's conception of them, in some of their worst characteristics.

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The two gigantic negroes that now laid hold of Tom, with fiendish exultation in their faces, might have formed no unapt personification of powers of darkness.

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Five minutes ago Hareton seemed a personification of my youth, not a human being; I felt to him in such a variety of ways, that it would have been impossible to have accosted him rationally.

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Had there been painters in those days capable to execute such a subject, the Jew, as he bent his withered form, and expanded his chilled and trembling hands over the fire, would have formed no bad emblematical personification of the Winter season.