characterize
Americanverb (used with object)
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characterizes,
present (3rd person singular)
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characterized,
past participle, past
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characterizing
present participle
-
to mark or distinguish as a characteristic; be a characteristic of.
Rich metaphors characterize his poetry.
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to describe the character or individual quality of.
He characterized her in a few well-chosen words.
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to attribute character to.
to characterize him as a coward.
verb
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to be a characteristic of
loneliness characterized the place
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to distinguish or mark as a characteristic
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to describe or portray the character of
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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characterizernoun
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mischaracterizeverb (used with object)
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recharacterizeverb (used with object)
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characterizableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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characterizesimple
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characterizessimple
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have characterizedperfect
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has characterizedperfect
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am characterizingprogressive
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are characterizingprogressive
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is characterizingprogressive
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have been characterizingperfect progressive
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has been characterizingperfect progressive
Past
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characterizedsimple
-
had characterizedperfect
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was characterizingprogressive
-
were characterizingprogressive
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had been characterizingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of characterize
First recorded in 1585–95; from Medieval Latin charactērizāre, from Greek charaktērízein; see character, -ize
Explanation
To characterize someone is to describe them in a certain way, to try to pin down his or her personality. If you say your dad is stingy, you are characterizing him as a miser. See the word character in characterize? Two meanings of character can help you understand this word. We all have character, meaning we all have unique personalities. Also, characters are people in books, movies, plays, and TV shows. Characterizing has to do with summing up how a person acts in real life or is portrayed in a work of fiction.
Vocabulary lists containing characterize
The SAT: Language of the Test, List 1
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 1
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Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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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:
Hartig told lawmakers that while the White House report is under review, "we unwaveringly attest that it does not fairly or accurately characterize the full body of work at the museum."
From Barron's ● Jul. 24, 2026
"We were able to isolate an intermediate structure from our ruthenium complex formation reaction and characterize this with single-crystal X-ray diffraction. Surprisingly, we found the structure to be doubly ring-slipped," says Takebayashi.
From Science Daily ● May 22, 2026
But without the proper documentation or court-ordered child support, the Internal Revenue Service could characterize this money as a gift or settlement.
From MarketWatch ● May 16, 2026
If “Mija No Te Asustes” is an album about this confident boss man calling the shots, how would you characterize “Afterafter”?
From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2026
When he saw the blank regions that characterize helical patterns, he jumped into action, quickly spilling out several possible helical TMV structures.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
Griffin’s countersuit claims that the classmate’s lawsuit characterizes her as “a fraud and a thief.”
From Salon ● Jun. 25, 2026
The shares have since wavered, falling 16% on Monday alone, and options sellers are helping to create a two-way flow, which characterizes healthy markets.
From Barron's ● Jun. 24, 2026
“Survival mode” is how Neale Wetherall, 36, a veteran living in the southeast with two young kids, characterizes his family dynamic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 19, 2026
If one thing characterizes the past few years of major app releases, it’s “features users didn’t ask for.”
From Slate ● Jun. 10, 2026
The epistemological sloppiness that, in Western culture, characterizes references to experience before the Scientific Revolution is not a necessary characteristic of pre-scientific societies.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
In an enterprise telecom landscape that had long been characterized by a ‘playing not to lose’ mindset, she set out to create a culture of innovation, accountability and playing to win.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 19, 2026
Binface has characterized his Clacton campaign as “people vs. the establishment,” a framing that is no doubt irksome to Farage, who views himself decidedly as the people, not the establishment.
From Slate ● Aug. 12, 2026
Powell’s era was characterized by higher volatility after press conferences, compared with those of predecessors Ben Bernanke and Janet Yellen.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 11, 2026
El Niño is a climate pattern characterized by warmer ocean waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean, coupled with changing atmospheric conditions, in which the typical east-to-west trade winds weaken or even reverse.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
He endured the “whirl of noise and motion,” as Dickens characterized London in his then-current serial, The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, which everyone was gobbling up in Bentley’s Miscellany, a literary magazine.
From "Charles and Emma: The Darwins' Leap of Faith" by Deborah Heiligman
"CMDR's laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art chemical instrumentation for quantifying and characterizing microplastics in environmental samples," explains Lynch.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 28, 2026
In near-daily appearances, he has vowed to press ahead, characterizing the luxury development as an economic boon for one of Europe’s poorest countries.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026
The back-and-forth became increasingly heated as Kennedy also peppered Noem for characterizing Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026
In a January 2 BlackRock column, Rieder said the inflation "storm has passed," characterizing labor market weakness as the bigger priority.
From Barron's ● Jan. 26, 2026
I voiced these thoughts to Hugh, who denounced both me and the crowd, unironically characterizing the atmosphere as "carnivallike."
From "Me Talk Pretty One Day" by David Sedaris
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.
