characterize
Americanverb (used with object)
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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
- characterizable adjective
- characterizer noun
- mischaracterize verb (used with object)
- recharacterize verb (used with object)
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.
McCardel recalls Karp using the German military term “Auftragstaktik” — or mission-type tactics — to characterize Palantir’s FDE playbook.
From MarketWatch • Apr. 4, 2026
“Gambling” is a term that has been used to characterize certain futures contracts going back to the origins of the CEA.
From Barron's • Mar. 28, 2026
"Our goal was to better characterize some of the underlying processes of how gut bacteria affect human biology," says Veronika Young, first author of the study together with Bushra Dohai.
From Science Daily • Mar. 27, 2026
And some experts predict that such an arrangement will characterize the regime in Iran a year or two from now.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 13, 2026
“Life...is a chemical incident,” Paul Ehrlich, the chemist, had once said, and biochemists, true to form, had begun to break open cells and characterize the constituent “living chemicals” into classes and functions.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
