characterize
verb (used with object)
to mark or distinguish as a characteristic; be a characteristic of.
was characterizing
-
past progressiveof characterize.past progressive
Used to describe an ongoing action or continuous state that was happening at a specific time in the past.
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.
Your governor gave this speech where she was characterizing people opposed to her administration.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2023
Quite different were quips to comment on how she was characterizing him.
From Washington Post ● Oct. 7, 2016
By Wednesday morning, McAuliffe was characterizing the exchange as a misunderstanding between the governor and a reporter.
From Washington Post ● Jul. 27, 2016
Upon arriving back home with my bottled water and canned goods, I stumbled into Wolf Blitzer's Situation Room on CNN, where Blitzer was characterizing this awful spectacle as "a very, very brutal kind of primary."
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2012
"Most of his judgments are, however, those of posterity though often, as in the case of Hawthorns, he was characterizing writers who had not done their best work."
From Selections from American poetry, with special reference to Poe, Longfellow, Lowell and Whittier by Margaret Spraque Carhart
