characterization
Americannoun
-
characterizations
plural
-
portrayal; description.
the actor's characterization of a politician.
- Synonyms:
- delineation, depiction, representation
-
the act of characterizing or describing the individual quality of a person or thing.
-
the creation and convincing representation of fictitious characters, as in a literary work.
noun
-
description of character, traits, etc
-
the act of characterizing
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of characterization
1560–70; < Medieval Latin charactērizāt ( us ) marked (past participle of charactērizāre to characterize; see -ate 1) + Latin -iōn- -ion
Explanation
If you write a play portraying your workplace as comically disorganized and woefully inefficient, you better hope it makes money, because your boss may fire you for this characterization. The word characterization describes how something is represented. When you break apart the word characterization it’s easy to figure out what it means. Character tells you that this word will likely involve the qualities a person or thing has. The -ization ending means it is a noun — the act of doing something. You can use the word characterization to describe the depiction of a character in a book or a movie, or also as a way a particular person, group, or event is portrayed, such as a journalist’s characterization of a political enemy.
Vocabulary lists containing characterization
Vocabulary to Describe Literary Devices
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Reading: Literature - Fiction - Introductory
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Literary Terms, Grade 7, Unit 1
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Corey Riday-White, managing attorney for the nonprofit Center for Climate Integrity, disputes that characterization.
From Barron's ● Oct. 2, 2026
At a Thursday press briefing, South Korea’s industry minister, Kim Jung-kwan, objected to the U.S. characterization of the country’s Alaska LNG investment.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Taken together, the available data resist a simple characterization of younger investors as either overly cautious or speculative.
From MarketWatch ● Sep. 24, 2026
She and others living nearby described the victim as appearing homeless, a characterization that spread quickly through media reports — much to the distress of those who knew Voskanyan.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 15, 2026
As a trafficker in climaxes and thrills and characterization and wonderful dialogue and suspense and confrontations, I had outlined the Dresden story many times.
From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut
The company distanced itself from Carlson and called his characterizations unscientific.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2026
But we should also realize that the engineers who are so ready to offer grim characterizations of what they’ve created are much less willing to make any substantial process overhauls.
From Slate ● Sep. 15, 2026
Because of a long history of such characterizations and perceptions, mountain people have often been forced to locate the beauty within themselves and their culture.
From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026
And in both cases, these secondary characterizations are as insightfully wrought as the actors’ main roles.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 3, 2026
This was the decision that caused Hamilton to repeat his earlier characterizations of Burr as the unprincipled American Catiline, which in turn generated the newspaper reports containing the offensive word “despicable.”
From "Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation" by Joseph J. Ellis
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
