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character

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
See also: charácter

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Etymology

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From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “type, nature, character”), from χαράσσω (kharássō, “I engrave”). Doublet of charakter.

Pronunciation

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Noun

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character (countable and uncountable, plural characters)

  2. (countable) A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.
    • 1695, John Dryden, A Parallel of Poetry and Painting:
      [I]n a tragedy, or epick poem, the hero of the piece must be advanced foremost to the view of the reader or spectator; he must outshine the rest of all the characters; he must appear the prince of them, like the sun in the Copernican system, encompassed with the less noble planets …
    • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:
      The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the operator.
    • 2012 April 26, Tasha Robinson, “Film: Reviews: The Pirates! Band Of Misfits”, in The Onion AV Club:
      But Pirates! comes with all the usual Aardman strengths intact, particularly the sense that its characters and creators alike are too good-hearted and sweet to nitpick. The ambition is all in the craft rather than in the storytelling, but it’s hard to say no to the proficiency of that craft, or the mild good cheer behind it.
  4. (countable) A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.
    A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.
    We were not able to ascertain the character of the relationship.
  5. (uncountable, countable) A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.
    A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.
  6. (uncountable) Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.
    He has a great deal of character.
    "You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds character."
    • 2010, BioWare, Mass Effect 2 (Science Fiction), Redwood City: Electronic Arts, →OCLC, PC, scene: Normandy SR-2:
      Shepard: Are you attracted to other species?
      Kelly: Well, part of my job is predicting the motives and feelings of humans and aliens. Intimacy brings understanding.
      Kelly: And passion is nice wherever you find it. Character matters, not race or gender.
  7. (countable) A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.
    Julius Caesar is a great historical character.
    That bloke is such a character.
    • 1986, Jim Cash, Jack Epps, Jr., Ehud Yonay, Top Gun‎[1], California: Paramount Pictures:
      STINGER: Don't screw around with me Maverick. You're a hell of an instinctive pilot. Maybe too good. I'd like to bust your butt but I can't. I got another problem here. I gotta send somebody from this squadron to Miramar. I gotta do something here, I still can't believe it. I gotta give you your dream shot, I'm gonna send you up against the best. You two characters are going to Top Gun.
  9. (countable) A written or printed symbol, or letter.
    • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech: An Essay of Inquiry into the Natural Production of Letters: […], London: […] T. N[ewcomb] for J[ohn] Martyn printer to the R[oyal] Society, […], →OCLC:
      It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye.
  10. (countable, dated) Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.
    an inscription in the Runic character
  11. (countable, dated) A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
  12. (countable, computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
  13. (countable, informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown.
    We saw a shady character slinking out of the office with some papers.
    That old guy is a real character.
  14. (countable, mathematics) An assignment of complex numbers to each element of a group, in particular a finite abelian group.
  15. (countable) Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.
    in the miserable character of a slave
    in his character as a magistrate
  16. (countable, dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.
    a man's character for truth and veracity
    Her actions give her a bad character.
    • 1705, J[oseph] Addison, Remarks on Several Parts of Italy, &c. in the Years 1701, 1702, 1703, London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC:
      This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it.
  17. (countable, dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
  18. (countable, obsolete) Personal appearance.

Usage notes

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  • Character is sometimes used interchangeably with reputation, but the two words have different meanings; character describes the distinctive qualities of an individual or group while reputation describes the opinions held by others regarding an individual or group. Character is internal and authentic, while reputation is external and perceived.

Hyponyms

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Derived terms

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English terms starting with “character”

Descendants

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  • → Scottish Gaelic: caractar

Translations

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being in a story
(computing) basic element in a text string
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

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character (third-person singular simple present characters, present participle charactering, simple past and past participle charactered)

  1. (obsolete) To write (using characters); to describe.
    • c. 1598–1600 (date written), William Shakespeare, “As You Like It”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene vii]:
      O Roſalind, theſe Trees ſhall be my Bookes, / And in their barkes my thoughts Ile charracter, / That euery eye, which in this Forreſt lookes, / Shall ſee thy vertue witneſt euery where.

See also

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Latin

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Etymology

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From the Ancient Greek χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr).

Pronunciation

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Noun

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charactēr m (genitive charactēris); third declension

  1. branding iron
  2. brand (made by a branding iron)
  3. characteristic, mark, character, style
    Synonyms: ingenium, nātūra, habitus, mēns, indolēs

Declension

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Third-declension noun.

singular plural
nominative charactēr charactērēs
genitive charactēris charactērum
dative charactērī charactēribus
accusative charactērem charactērēs
ablative charactēre charactēribus
vocative charactēr charactērēs

Descendants

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References

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  • “character”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
  • character in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.
  • character in Ramminger, Johann (2016 July 16 (last accessed)) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700‎[2], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Portuguese

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Noun

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character m (plural characteres)

  1. Pre-reform spelling (used until 1943 in Brazil and 1911 in Portugal) of caráter.
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