character study

American  

noun

1. a work of fiction in which the delineation of the central character's personality is more important than the plot.

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Example Sentences

“Giant” is a probing character study that raises the discomfiting question of how a man of intelligence and imagination could hold such atavistic and pernicious views.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 24, 2026

He stars in Blue Moon - a character study of Lorenz Hart, a formerly successful songwriter struggling with the huge hit his former partner Richard Rogers is having with the musical Oklahoma!

From BBC • Feb. 11, 2026

Instead, it has all the hallmarks of both a black comedy comprising carefully crafted scenes and a deft character study made up of painstakingly applied warts-and-all detail.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 2, 2026

Together, the two craft a self-aware, though no less banal, character study, examining the life of an artist who’s too famous to get off the ride — or perhaps, just too damn charming.

From Salon • Oct. 2, 2025

They were fine, merry-faced girls, and here again Denham found a keen bit of character study.

From Forging the Blades A Tale of the Zulu Rebellion by Mitford, Bertram