personage
Americannoun
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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
Related Words
See person.
Other Word Forms
- nonpersonage noun
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
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.
He continues to use it because he finds that “a fictional personage does exert a slightly disinhibiting effect” on his writing—“always in the service of truth, of course.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 6, 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
He was a personage of quite another order from the great hero of Athens, Theseus.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
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.
