personage
Americannoun
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a person of distinction or importance.
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any person.
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a character in a play, story, etc.
noun
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an important or distinguished person
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another word for person
a strange personage
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rare a figure in literature, history, etc
Synonym Usage
See person.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of personage
First recorded in 1425–75; late Middle English: “body or image (statue, portrait) of a person” (from Old French ), from Medieval Latin persōnāgium. See person, -age
Explanation
In history and literature, a personage is an important person, a notable figure whose actions and decisions have a major impact on events. The word personage comes from the Latin persona, meaning "mask" or "character." In fact, a character in a play is sometimes referred to as a personage. Outside of theater, the word typically refers to someone of great significance or distinction, such as a monarch, a president, or an influential cultural leader with impressive achievements or clout. On the other hand, personage can also be used more broadly to refer to any person, important or not.
Vocabulary lists containing personage
Excerpt from "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
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Hick
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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.
And always there is Mama, who haunted her life and haunts her memoir, though Ms. Minnelli wants it understood that she’s her own personage.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
The omnipresent Emcee, a queer Jack Be Nimble, can’t be dragged to the camps because he is a thematic stage presence, more a spirit than a depicted personage with a before/during/after narrative governed by reality.
From Salon • Oct. 4, 2025
Security Council’s five permanent members, only the United States, in the personage of President Joe Biden, spoke.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 26, 2023
“She is of a generation that went through that process, and she was an unusual personage in that generation.”
From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2023
I figured ’twas some personage and mayhap one of the King’s soldiers so I repaired to the house and brought out my gun.
From "The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing, Traitor to the Nation, Volume I: The Pox Party" by M.T. Anderson
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.
