personage

[pur-suh-nij]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR personage ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

a person of distinction or importance.

a character in a play, story, etc.

Origin of personage

1425–75; late Middle English: body or image (statue, portrait) of a person (< Old French) < Medieval Latin persōnāgium. See person, -age

Related formsnon·per·son·age, noun

Synonyms for personage

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR personage ON THESAURUS.COM

1. See person.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for personage

dignitary, celebrity, tycoon, magnate, being, notable, VIP, heavyweight, bigwig

Examples from the Web for personage

Contemporary Examples of personage

Even compared with his personage in Casino Royale, the 007 of Quantum is basically a grunting eunuch.
Has Bond Lost His Balls?
Matthew Oshinsky
November 3, 2008

Historical Examples of personage

Now what other personage is there in Shakespeare who shows these traits or some of them?
The Man Shakespeare
Frank Harris
The Personage on the hearthrug had been listening with profound attention.
The Secret Agent
Joseph Conrad
Mr. Macgregor, rising, advanced with great respect to this personage.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
But Philip had another motive in continuing his acquaintance with that personage.
Night and Morning, Complete
Edward Bulwer-Lytton
Until now this personage had escaped the observation of the travelers.
The Last of the Mohicans
James Fenimore Cooper

British Dictionary definitions for personage

personage

noun

an important or distinguished person

another word for person (def. 1) a strange personage

rare a figure in literature, history, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for personage

mid-15c., "body of a person" (with regard to appearance), from Old French personage "size, stature," also "a dignitary" (13c.), from Medieval Latin personaticum (11c.), from persona (see person). Meaning "a person of high rank or distinction" is attested from c.1500 in English; as a longer way to say person, the word was in use from 1550s (but often slyly ironical, with suggestion that the subject is overly self-important).