character
- (of a part or role) representing a personality type, especially by emphasizing distinctive traits, as language, mannerisms, physical makeup, etc.
- (of an actor or actress) acting or specializing in such roles.
Idioms about character
- in harmony with one's personal character or disposition: Such behavior is not in character for him.
- in accordance with the role or personality assumed in a performance: an actor in character.
- out of harmony with one's personal character or disposition: Her remarks were out of character.
- away from the role or personality assumed in a performance: The actor stepped out of character.
Origin of character
synonym study for character
OTHER WORDS FROM character
char·ac·ter·less, adjectiveun·char·ac·tered, adjectiveWords nearby character
MORE ABOUT CHARACTER
What does character mean?
A character is a person in a story, as in Princess Leia is my favorite Star Wars character.
A character is someone who appears in a story, whether the story is fiction or nonfiction. It can also be used to refer to a role in a play or film that an actor plays, as in Tony’s character in the play doesn’t have any lines, but he’s still important to the plot.
Character is also the collection of features and traits that make a person’s image and personality, as in Ishir’s character was one of honesty and friendship. If someone seems characterless, they don’t have traits that stand out, although everyone has personality traits.
Character can also refer to a person’s moral or ethical quality. If you are a person of good character, you are trustworthy and reliable.
Related to that, if you have character, you are honest and courageous or have integrity.
Additionally, a character is a specific symbol or image that is used in writing messages. The words you are reading are written in letters, or characters, that make up the Latin alphabet. Punctuation marks and numerals (1, IX) are also characters. They are called symbols as well.
Example: I can’t believe that my favorite character died in the show last night.
Where does character come from?
The first records of the term character come from around the 1270s. It ultimately comes from the Greek charaktḗr, meaning “graving tool or its mark.” A character meaning “mark” can refer to a symbol or a letter.
In acting, the idioms in character and out of character are used to describe whether an actor is speaking as their role (in character) or as themselves (out of character). You can also use these idioms to describe how someone is acting. If your brother usually sleeps until noon, it is in character for him to sleep until noon and out of character to sleep only until 10 am.
Did you know … ?
What are some other forms related to character?
- characterful (adjective)
- characterless (adjective)
- uncharactered (adjective)
What are some synonyms for character?
What are some words that share a root or word element with character?
What are some words that often get used in discussing character?
How is character used in real life?
As a letter or symbol, character almost always references a written work. As a trait, it normally references a specific person.
if you wanna see the true character of person watch the way they treat someone who can't do anything for them.
— ye (@kanyewest) April 19, 2018
Reading lots of feedback regarding Dragon Age, and I think you’ll be relieved to see what the team is working on. Story & character focused.
Too early to talk details, but when we talk about “live” it just means designing a game for continued storytelling after the main story.
— Casey Hudson (@CaseyDHudson) January 25, 2018
why does creating a password require a capital letter, number, special character, and math problem but someone can just accidentally press the wrong button to send ballistic missle alerts
— manny (@mannyfidel) January 13, 2018
Try using character!
Is character used correctly in the following sentence?
It takes a lot of character to leave your hometown and start all over.
How to use character in a sentence
British Dictionary definitions for character
Derived forms of character
characterful, adjectivecharacterless, adjectiveWord Origin for character
Scientific definitions for character
Cultural definitions for character
A person in a literary work. For example, Ebenezer Scrooge is a character in A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.
Other Idioms and Phrases with character
see in character; out of character.