character
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkæɹɪktə/
note: without the Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈkæɹ(ə)ktɚ/
note: Mary–marry–merry merger
ipa: /ˈkɛɹ(ə)ktɚ/
note: Indic
ipa: /ˈkʰarəkʈə(r)/
note: Indic
ipa: /kʰəˈrækʈə(r)/
Forms: form: characters
Etymology: From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “I engrave”). Doublet of charakter.
Senses: examples: text: [I]n a tragedy, or epick poem, the hero of the piece must be advanced foremost to the view of the reader or spectator; he must outshine the rest of all the characters; he must appear the prince of them, like the sun in the Copernican system, encompassed with the less noble planets …
ref: 1695, John Dryden, A Parallel of Poetry and Painting:
text: The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
text: But Pirates! comes with all the usual Aardman strengths intact, particularly the sense that its characters and creators alike are too good-hearted and sweet to nitpick. The ambition is all in the craft rather than in the storytelling, but it’s hard to say no to the proficiency of that craft, or the mild good cheer behind it.
ref: 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club, archived from the original on 29 Apr 2012:
hyponyms: protagonist
central character
antagonist
glosses: A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.
examples: text: A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.
text: We were not able to ascertain the character of the relationship.
glosses: A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.
examples: text: A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.
text: A man of […] thoroughly subservient character
ref: 1856, John Lothrop Motley, The Rise of the Dutch Republic. A History. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, […], →OCLC:
text: Now all this was very fine, but not at all in keeping with the Celebrity's character as I had come to conceive it. The idea that adulation ever cloyed on him was ludicrous in itself. In fact I thought the whole story fishy, and came very near to saying so.
ref: 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter III, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
glosses: A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.
examples: text: He has a great deal of character.
text: "You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds character."
text: Shepard: Are you attracted to other species?
Kelly: Well, part of my job is predicting the motives and feelings of humans and aliens. Intimacy brings understanding.
Kelly: And passion is nice wherever you find it. Character matters, not race or gender.
ref: 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
glosses: Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.
examples: text: Julius Caesar is a great historical character.
text: That bloke is such a character.
text: STINGER: Don't screw around with me Maverick. You're a hell of an instinctive pilot. Maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butt but I can't. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this squadron to Miramar. I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot, I'm gonna send you up against the best. You two characters are going to Top Gun.
ref: 1986, Jim Cash; Jack Epps, Jr.; Ehud Yonay, Top Gun, California: Paramount Pictures:
glosses: A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.
examples: text: 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.
ref: 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:
glosses: A written or printed symbol, or letter.
examples: text: an inscription in the Runic character
text: You know the character to be your brother's?
ref: c. 1603–1606, William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of King Lear”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene ii]:
glosses: Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.
glosses: A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
examples: text: We'll start at the beginning, with the basic building blocks not just of emoji, nor even digital communication, but of all written language: characters and character sets.
ref: 2016 November 14, Rob Reed, “Everything You Need To Know About Emoji”, in Smashing Magazine, archived from the original on 12 Feb 2025:
topics: computing
engineering
mathematics
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
sciences
glosses: One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
examples: text: We saw a shady character slinking out of the office with some papers.
text: That old guy is a real character.
glosses: A person or individual, especially one who is unknown.
topics: mathematics
sciences
glosses: An assignment of complex numbers to each element of a group, in particular a finite abelian group.
examples: text: in the miserable character of a slave
text: in his character as a magistrate
glosses: Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.
examples: text: a man's character for truth and veracity
text: Her actions give her a bad character.
text: This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it.
ref: 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
glosses: The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.
glosses: A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
glosses: Personal appearance.
Hyponyms: bell character
cartoon character
Chinese character
control character
delete character
dominant character
escape character
Hàn character
Han character
Hebrew character
main character
main-character syndrome
non-printing character
null character
player character
round character
staple character
stock character
Derived terms: ASA character
base character
bicharacter
big-character poster
biocharacter
box-drawing character
break character
breakout character
build character
carriage control character
character actor
character actress
character amnesia
character arc
character assassination
character-based
character beat
character-building
character cell
character class
character density
character disorder
character encoding
character-forming
characterful
character generator
characterhood
characterisation
characterization
characterise
characterize
characterism
characterist
characteristic
characterless
characterlike
character man
character map
character neurosis
characternym
characterologist
characterology
characteropathy
character part
character piece
character recognition
character reference
character set
character shoe
character study
character theory
character trait
character user interface
characterwise
character witness
charactery
charactonym
charactron
Chinese character
CJK character
CJKV character
cocharacter
combining character
demicharacter
Dirichlet character
get into character
ghost character
Han character
Hebrew character
in character
intelligent character recognition
intercharacter
lead character
main character syndrome
megacharacter
metacharacter
microcharacter
multicharacter
noncharacter
non-player character
non-printable character
optical character recognition
original character
out-of-character
out of character
paragraph character
private-use character
pseudocharacter
replacement character
setaceous Hebrew character
special character
subcharacter
supercharacter
supplementary character
title character