characterize

[kar-ik-tuh-rahyz]

verb (used with object), char·ac·ter·ized, char·ac·ter·iz·ing.

to mark or distinguish as a characteristic; be a characteristic of: Rich metaphors characterize his poetry.

to describe the character or individual quality of: He characterized her in a few well-chosen words.

to attribute character to: to characterize him as a coward.

Also especially British, char·ac·ter·ise.

Origin of characterize

1585–95; < Medieval Latin charactērizāre < Greek charaktērízein. See character, -ize

Related formschar·ac·ter·iz·a·ble, adjectivechar·ac·ter·iz·er, nounmis·char·ac·ter·ize, verb (used with object), mis·char·ac·ter·ized, mis·char·ac·ter·iz·ing.non·char·ac·ter·ized, adjectivere·char·ac·ter·ize, verb (used with object), re·char·ac·ter·ized, re·char·ac·ter·iz·ing.un·char·ac·ter·ized, adjectivewell-char·ac·ter·ized, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for characterise

Contemporary Examples of characterise

He likes small windows and greatly dislikes the sweeping areas of glass and metal that characterise the work of Richard Rogers.
Imagining Prince Charles as King Makes All of Britain Wish They Could Leave Like Scotland
Clive Irving
September 17, 2014

Historical Examples of characterise

There are certain peculiarities which characterise these memorials of the race.
English Villages
P. H. Ditchfield
But we are able to characterise them sufficiently by that part of the complex action which is the most prominent.
Theaetetus
Plato
This condition the Sufis characterise as self-annihilation (Fana).
Mystics and Saints of Islam
Claud Field
It is not our intention to characterise his excellences as a composer.
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 62, Number 361, November, 1845.
Various
What beast save the goat could characterise Alexander and his reign?
The Lost Ten Tribes, and 1882
Joseph Wild

British Dictionary definitions for characterise

characterize

characterise

verb (tr)

to be a characteristic ofloneliness characterized the place

to distinguish or mark as a characteristic

to describe or portray the character of

Derived Formscharacterizable or characterisable, adjectivecharacterizer or characteriser, noun

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for characterise

chiefly British English spelling of characterize; for suffix, see -ize. Related: Characterised; characterising.

characterize

1590s, "to engrave, write," back-formation from characterization, or else from Medieval Latin characterizare, from Greek kharakterizein "to designate by a characteristic mark," from kharakter (see character). Meaning "to describe the qualities of" is recorded from 1630s; that of "to be characteristic" is from 1744. Related: Characterized; characterizing.