personage

American  

[pur-suh-nij] / ˈpɜr sə nɪdʒ /

noun

• personages
  plural

1. a person of distinction or importance.

2. any person.

3. a character in a play, story, etc.

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personage British  

/ ˈpɜːsənɪdʒ /

noun

1. an important or distinguished person

2. another word for person

   a strange personage

3. rare a figure in literature, history, etc

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Synonym Usage

See person.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nonpersonage
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• personages
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

personage personages

Neat as some of his epigrams are, his characters talk a little too much, and the scenes in which Wilde dazzles some beguiling new historical personage with his repartee are a little too overextended.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

Musk is a unique personage in the CEO ranks, as the Yale researchers observe — “the world’s wealthiest person and CEO of the most valuable automaker by market capitalization.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 4, 2025

Musk’s unrestrained, all-access scourge through the government has led pundits like Nate Silver to compare him to a ‘great man’ of history — that mythic personage whose unhindered agency pushes history forward.

From Salon ● Mar. 28, 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

On first glance previously, I’d dismissed this personage as someone’s mom.

From "Saints and Misfits" by S.K. Ali

Much will come out in the exchanges between the accidental roommates that alters our perceptions of both, as well as our view of those offstage personages, living and dead.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 28, 2026

We chronicle, explicate, elucidate and constantly “re-adjudicate” historical events and personages.

From Salon ● Jul. 30, 2024

"These films seek to challenge what we think we know about historical personages or important historical incidents. They are out to create a new alt-history."

From BBC ● May 3, 2024

He has been ambushed at least eight times by a Belgian pie-thrower who targets pompous personages, and he is the subject of no fewer than four sometimes-scathing biographies.

From New York Times ● Feb. 28, 2023

Indeed, some of the personages were Jewish, and this fact alone should demonstrate how nonsensical is much of what has been said about his lordship.

From "The Remains of the Day" by Kazuo Ishiguro

Related Words

• celebrity
• dignitary