character definitions

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story); "she is the main character in the novel" [syn: fictional character, fictitious character, character]
2: 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" [syn: quality, character, lineament]
3: 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 [syn: character, fiber, fibre]
4: an actor's portrayal of someone in a play; "she played the part of Desdemona" [syn: character, role, theatrical role, part, persona]
5: 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" [syn: character, eccentric, type, case]
6: good repute; "he is a man of character"
7: 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" [syn: character, reference, character reference]
8: a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters" [syn: character, grapheme, graphic symbol]
9: (genetics) an attribute (structural or functional) that is determined by a gene or group of genes v
1: engrave or inscribe characters on

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English caracter, from Latin character mark, distinctive quality, from Greek charakt?r, from charassein to scratch, engrave; perhaps akin to Lithuanian žerti to scratch Date: 14th century 1. a. a conventionalized graphic device placed on an object as an indication of ownership, origin, or relationship b. a graphic symbol (as a hieroglyph or alphabet letter) used in writing or printing c. a magical or astrological emblem d. alphabet e. (1) writing, printing (2) style of writing or printing (3) cipher f. a symbol (as a letter or number) that represents information; also a representation of such a character that may be accepted by a computer 2. a. one of the attributes or features that make up and distinguish an individual b. (1) a feature used to separate distinguishable things into categories; also a group or kind so separated <advertising of a very primitive character> (2) the detectable expression of the action of a gene or group of genes (3) the aggregate of distinctive qualities characteristic of a breed, strain, or type <a wine of great character> c. the complex of mental and ethical traits marking and often individualizing a person, group, or nation <the character of the American people> d. main or essential nature especially as strongly marked and serving to distinguish <excess sewage gradually changed the character of the lake> 3. position, capacity <his character as a town official> 4. reference 4b 5. reputation <the scandal has damaged his character and image> 6. moral excellence and firmness <a man of sound character> 7. a. a person marked by notable or conspicuous traits <quite a character> b. one of the persons of a drama or novel c. the personality or part which an actor recreates <an actress who can create a character convincingly> d. characterization especially in drama or fiction e. person, individual <a suspicious character> 8. a short literary sketch of the qualities of a social type Synonyms: see disposition, quality, type • characterless adjective II. transitive verb Date: 1591 1. archaic engrave, inscribe 2. a. archaic represent, portray b. characterize III. adjective Date: 1883 1. capable of portraying an unusual or eccentric personality often markedly different from the player <a character actor> 2. requiring the qualities of a character actor <a character role>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 the collective qualities or characteristics, esp. mental and moral, that distinguish a person or thing. 2 a moral strength (has a weak character). b reputation, esp. good reputation. 3 a a person in a novel, play, etc. b a part played by an actor; a role. 4 colloq. a person, esp. an eccentric or outstanding individual (he's a real character). 5 a a printed or written letter, symbol, or distinctive mark (Chinese characters). b Computing any of a group of symbols representing a letter etc. 6 a written description of a person's qualities; a testimonial. 7 a characteristic (esp. of a biological species). --v.tr. archaic inscribe; describe. Phrases and idioms: character actor an actor who specializes in playing eccentric or unusual persons. character assassination a malicious attempt to harm or destroy a person's good reputation. in (or out of) character consistent (or inconsistent) with a person's character. Derivatives: characterful adj. characterfully adv. characterless adj. Etymology: ME f. OF caractere f. L character f. Gk kharakter stamp, impress

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Demotic De*mot"ic, a. [Gr. dhmotiko`s, fr. dh^mos the people: cf. F. d['e]motique.] Of or pertaining to the people; popular; common. Demotic alphabet or character, a form of writing used in Egypt after six or seven centuries before Christ, for books, deeds, and other such writings; a simplified form of the hieratic character; -- called also epistolographic character, and enchorial character. See Enchorial.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Such Such, a. [OE. such, sich, sech, sik, swich, swilch, swulch, swilc, swulc, AS. swelc, swilc, swylc; akin to OFries. selik, D. zulk, OS. sulic, OHG. sulih, solih, G. solch, Icel. sl[=i]kr, OSw. salik, Sw. slik, Dan. slig, Goth. swaleiks; originally meaning, so shaped. [root]192. See So, Like, a., and cf. Which.] 1. Of that kind; of the like kind; like; resembling; similar; as, we never saw such a day; -- followed by that or as introducing the word or proposition which defines the similarity, or the standard of comparison; as, the books are not such that I can recommend them, or, not such as I can recommend; these apples are not such as those we saw yesterday; give your children such precepts as tend to make them better. And in his time such a conqueror That greater was there none under the sun. --Chaucer. His misery was such that none of the bystanders could refrain from weeping. --Macaulay. Note: The indefinite article a or an never precedes such, but is placed between it and the noun to which it refers; as, such a man; such an honor. The indefinite adjective some, several, one, few, many, all, etc., precede such; as, one such book is enough; all such people ought to be avoided; few such ideas were then held. 2. Having the particular quality or character specified. That thou art happy, owe to God; That thou continuest such, owe to thyself. --Milton. 3. The same that; -- with as; as, this was the state of the kingdom at such time as the enemy landed. ``[It] hath such senses as we have.'' --Shak. 4. Certain; -- representing the object as already particularized in terms which are not mentioned. In rushed one and tells him such a knight Is new arrived. --Daniel. To-day or to-morrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year. --James iv. 13. Note: Such is used pronominally. ``He was the father of such as dwell in tents.'' --Gen. iv. 20. ``Such as I are free in spirit when our limbs are chained.'' --Sir W. Scott. Such is also used before adjectives joined to substantives; as, the fleet encountered such a terrible storm that it put back. ``Everything was managed with so much care, and such excellent order was observed.'' --De Foe. Temple sprung from a family which . . . long after his death produced so many eminent men, and formed such distinguished alliances, that, etc. --Macaulay. Such is used emphatically, without the correlative. Now will he be mocking: I shall have such a life. --Shak. Such was formerly used with numerals in the sense of times as much or as many; as, such ten, or ten times as many. Such and such, or Such or such, certain; some; -- used to represent the object indefinitely, as already particularized in one way or another, or as being of one kind or another. ``In such and such a place shall be my camp.'' --2 Kings vi. 8. ``Sovereign authority may enact a law commanding such and such an action.'' --South. Such like or character, of the like kind. And many other such like things ye do. --Mark vii. 8.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Character Char"ac*ter, n. [L., an instrument for marking, character, Gr. ?, fr. ? to make sharp, to cut into furrows, to engrave: cf. F. caract[`e]re.] 1. A distinctive mark; a letter, figure, or symbol. It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye. --Holder. 2. Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the peculiar form of letters used by a particular person or people; as, an inscription in the Runic character. You know the character to be your brother's? --Shak. 3. The peculiar quality, or the sum of qualities, by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others; the stamp impressed by nature, education, or habit; that which a person or thing really is; nature; disposition. The character or that dominion. --Milton. Know well each Ancient's proper character; His fable, subject, scope in every page; Religion, Country, genius of his Age. --Pope. A man of . . . thoroughly subservient character. --Motley. 4. Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; as, he has a great deal of character. 5. Moral quality; the principles and motives that control the life; as, a man of character; his character saves him from suspicion. 6. Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty; as, in the miserable character of a slave; in his character as a magistrate; her character as a daughter. 7. The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation; as, a man's character for truth and veracity; to give one a bad character. This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it. --Addison. 8. A written statement as to behavior, competency, etc., given to a servant. [Colloq.] 9. A unique or extraordinary individuality; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits; a person who illustrates certain phases of character; as, Randolph was a character; C[ae]sar is a great historical character. 10. One of the persons of a drama or novel. Note: ``It would be well if character and reputation were used distinctively. In truth, character is what a person is; reputation is what he is supposed to be. Character is in himself, reputation is in the minds of others. Character is injured by temptations, and by wrongdoing; reputation by slanders, and libels. Character endures throughout defamation in every form, but perishes when there is a voluntary transgression; reputation may last through numerous transgressions, but be destroyed by a single, and even an unfounded, accusation or aspersion.'' --Abbott.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Character Char"ac*ter, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charactered.] 1. To engrave; to inscribe. [R.] These trees shall be my books. And in their barks my thoughts I 'll character. --Shak. 2. To distinguish by particular marks or traits; to describe; to characterize. [R.] --Mitford.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(characters) Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English. 1. The character of a person or place consists of all the qualities they have that make them distinct from other people or places. Perhaps there is a negative side to his character that you haven't seen yet... The character of this country has been formed by immigration. = nature N-COUNT: usu with supp 2. If something has a particular character, it has a particular quality. The financial concessions granted to British Aerospace were, he said, of a precarious character... The state farms were semi-military in character. = nature N-SING: usu supp N, also in N 3. You can use character to refer to the qualities that people from a particular place are believed to have. Individuality is a valued and inherent part of the British character. N-SING: supp N 4. You use character to say what kind of person someone is. For example, if you say that someone is a strange character, you mean they are strange. It's that kind of courage and determination that makes him such a remarkable character... What a sad character that Nigel is. N-COUNT: usu adj N 5. Your character is your personality, especially how reliable and honest you are. If someone is of good character, they are reliable and honest. If they are of bad character, they are unreliable and dishonest. He's begun a series of personal attacks on my character... Mr Bartman was a man of good character. N-VAR: usu supp N 6. If you say that someone has character, you mean that they have the ability to deal effectively with difficult, unpleasant, or dangerous situations. She showed real character in her attempts to win over the crowd... I didn't know Ron had that much strength of character. [approval] 7. If you say that a place has character, you mean that it has an interesting or unusual quality which makes you notice it and like it. An ugly shopping centre stands across from one of the few buildings with character. [approval] 8. The characters in a film, book, or play are the people that it is about. The film is autobiographical and the central character is played by Collard himself... He's made the characters believable. N-COUNT 9. If you say that someone is a character, you mean that they are interesting, unusual, or amusing. (INFORMAL) He'll be sadly missed. He was a real character. N-COUNT 10. A character is a letter, number, or other symbol that is written or printed. N-COUNT 11. If someone's actions are in character, they are doing what you would expect them to do, knowing what kind of person they are. If their actions are out of character, they are not doing what you would expect them to do. It was entirely in character for Rachel to put her baby first... What else could make him behave so out of character? PHRASE: usu v-link PHR

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Mark, figure, sign, symbol, emblem, letter. 2. Constitution, quality, nature, disposition, cast, turn, bent. 3. Moral qualities, personal traits, habitual conduct. 4. Marked traits, strongly marked personality, striking qualities. 5. Person, personage, individual. 6. Reputation, repute.

Moby Thesaurus

Adamite, Altmann theory, DNA, De Vries theory, Galtonian theory, Mendelianism, Mendelism, RNA, Roscius, VIP, Verworn theory, Weismann theory, Weismannism, Wiesner theory, abnormal, accent, accent mark, acclaim, actor, actress, advocacy, advocating, advocation, affection, alien, allele, allelomorph, alphabet, alphabetic character, alphabetize, animus, antagonist, antihero, aptitude, arbitrary, aroma, arrowhead, assured probity, attribute, atypical, autolithograph, bad guy, badge, banner, bar, barnstormer, bastard, bat, be a printmaker, being, bent, bias, big shot, big-timer, bigwig, binary digit, bird, birth, birthmark, bit, bit part, blamelessness, blood, body, body-build, brand, breed, bring to life, bugger, cachet, cameo, cancel, capacity, capitalize, card, carve, case, cast, cat, catalog, cataloging, catch a likeness, celebrity, certificate of character, chap, character actor, character man, character reference, character sketch, character woman, characteristic, characteristics, characterization, characterize, chart, chief, child actor, chisel, chromatid, chromatin, chromosome, cipher, clan, cleanness, clothing, color, complexion, composition, condition, configuration, constituents, constitution, courage, cove, crackpot, crank, crasis, crease, creature, credential, cribble, crosshatch, cue, cuneiform, customer, custos, cut, decency, delineate, delineation, demotic character, denomination, depict, depiction, describe, description, designation, details, determinant, determinative, determiner, device, dharma, diagram, diathesis, differentia, differential, digit, dignitary, direct, diseur, diseuse, disposition, distinction, distinctive feature, dot, dramatizer, draw, duck, duty, earmark, earthling, eccentric, eccentricity, eclat, emblem, eminence, enchase, endowment, engrave, erectness, erratic, estimableness, ethos, eugenics, evocation, evoke, expected, express, expression mark, factor, fairness, fame, famousness, fanatic, fat part, feather, feature, feeder, feller, fellow, fermata, fiber, figure, fitting, flake, flavor, foil, footing, form, frame, freak, function, furrow, gene, genesiology, genetic code, genetics, genius, genre, genus, give words to, glory, good character, goodness, grain, grammalogue, graph, grapheme, graphic account, grave, groove, groundling, gust, guy, habit, hallmark, hand, hatch, head, heavy, hereditability, heredity, heritability, heritage, hermit, hero, heroine, hieratic symbol, hieroglyph, hieroglyphic, hieroglyphics, high ideals, high principles, high-mindedness, hiragana, histrio, histrion, hit off, hobo, hold, homo, honesty, honor, honorableness, hue, human, human being, humor, humors, ideogram, ideograph, idiocrasy, idiosyncrasy, ilk, image, imagery, immaculacy, impress, impression, in character, in keeping, inborn capacity, incise, inclination, index, indicant, indicator, individual, individualism, individuality, ingenue, inheritability, inheritance, initial, inscribe, insignia, integrity, intellect, intelligence, irreproachability, irreproachableness, itemization, jasper, job, joker, justice, justness, juvenile, kana, katakana, key signature, keynote, kidney, kin, kind, kook, kudos, label, lad, lead, lead role, leading lady, leading man, leading woman, leaning, letter, letter of introduction, lexigraphic character, life, ligature, limn, limning, line, lineaments, lines, lithograph, living soul, logogram, logograph, lone wolf, loner, loony, lot, make, make prints, makeup, man, manner, mannerism, map, mark, marking, matinee idol, matrocliny, maverick, measure, mental set, meshuggenah, metronomic mark, mettle, mime, mimer, mimic, mind, mind-set, mold, monogram, monologist, moral excellence, moral strength, morality, mortal, mummer, nabob, name, natural, nature, nobility, nonconformist, normal, nose, notability, notate, notation, note, notoriety, notoriousness, number, numeral, numero, nut, odd fellow, oddball, oddity, odor, office, ogham, one, original, out of character, outline, outsider, paint, pantomime, pantomimist, pariah, part, particularity, particularization, party, patrocliny, patronage, pause, peculiar, peculiarity, person, personage, personality, persuasion, pharmacogenetics, phonetic, phonetic character, phonetic symbol, photograph, phylum, physique, pictogram, pictograph, pictographic character, picture, picturize, piece, place, playactor, player, point, popularity, portrait, portraiture, portray, portrayal, position, predilection, predisposition, preference, presa, principles, print, probity, proclivity, profile, propensity, proper, property, protagonist, protean actor, province, publicity, pureness, purity, quality, queer duck, queer fish, queer specimen, quirk, quiz, race, radical, rank, rara avis, recessive character, reciter, reclame, recluse, recognition, recommend, recommendation, rectitude, reference, register, relation, render, rendering, rendition, renown, replication, report, represent, representation, representative, reputability, reputation, repute, resolution, respectability, righteousness, role, rub, rune, savor, schematize, score, scrape, scratch, screwball, sculpture, seal, segno, set, set forth, shape, shorthand, side, sigil, sign, signal, signature, single, singularity, situation, sketch, slant, slur, smack, solitary, somatotype, somebody, someone, sort, soubrette, soul, specialty, species, specification, spirit, spook, stage performer, stage player, stainlessness, stamp, standing, state, station, status, stipple, stooge, straight man, straight part, strain, strange duck, streak, stripe, stroller, strolling player, stud, style, suchness, suitable, supporting character, supporting role, sure sign, swell, syllabic, symbol, symbolize, symptom, system, taint, take a rubbing, tang, taste, telltale sign, tellurian, temper, temperament, tempo mark, tendency, tenor, terran, testimonial, the bubble reputation, the like of, the likes of, theatrical, thespian, tie, time signature, title role, token, tone, tool, trace, trace out, trace over, trait, tramp, transcribe, transliterate, tribe, trick, trouper, turn, turn of mind, twist, type, typical, uncharacteristic, unexpected, unfitting, unimpeachability, unimpeachableness, uniqueness, unspottedness, untypical, uprightness, upstandingness, utility man, variety, vein, vignette, villain, vinculum, virtue, virtuousness, vivid description, vogue, voucher, walk-on, walking part, warp, way, wedge, weirdo, word letter, word painting, worldling, worthiness, write, writing, written character, zealot, zombie