characterization
Americannoun
-
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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Narrative Writing, List 3
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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.
Mr. Roxander did so with dancing of bold accent paired with a characterization of a sometimes-hot-headed young man.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 30, 2026
It described all of those wedges as “already deployed at an industrial scale,” a characterization that some experts said stretched the facts in the case of carbon capture and storage.
From Salon • Jun. 26, 2026
A spokesperson for Lineage said in a statement that the company can’t comment on the specifics of ongoing litigation but vigorously disputes the lawsuit’s characterization of its safety record.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 23, 2026
That characterization is a bit misleading, considering today’s quantum computers are already used for scientific research.
From Barron's • Jun. 23, 2026
He was actually trying to make amends for his unfair characterization of Adams in the Priestley letter as one of the “ancients.”
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.
