character
Definitions
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Characters of Hey Diddle Diddle -
WordNet 3.6
- v character engrave or inscribe characters on
- n character (genetics) an attribute (structural or functional) that is determined by a gene or group of genes
- n character the inherent complex of attributes that determines a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions "education has for its object the formation of character"- Herbert Spencer"
- n character a characteristic property that defines the apparent individual nature of something "each town has a quality all its own","the radical character of our demands"
- n character an actor's portrayal of someone in a play "she played the part of Desdemona"
- n character a formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential future employer describing the person's qualifications and dependability "requests for character references are all too often answered evasively"
- n character a written symbol that is used to represent speech "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters"
- n character an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story) "she is the main character in the novel"
- n character a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities) "a real character","a strange character","a friendly eccentric","the capable type","a mental case"
- n character good repute "he is a man of character"
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Additional illustrations & photos:
Smith Premier ring with characters
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
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Interesting fact: C3P0 is the first character to speak in Star Wars.
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- Character A distinctive mark; a letter, figure, or symbol. "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."
- Character A unique or extraordinary individuality; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits; a person who illustrates certain phases of character; as, Randolph was a character; Cæsar is a great historical character .
- Character A written statement as to behavior, competency, etc., given to a servant.
- Character Moral quality; the principles and motives that control the life; as, a man of character; his character saves him from suspicion.
- Character One of the persons of a drama or novel.
- Character Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty; as, in the miserable character of a slave; in his character as a magistrate; her character as a daughter.
- Character Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; as, he has a great deal of character .
- Character Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the peculiar form of letters used by a particular person or people; as, an inscription in the Runic character . "You know the character to be your brother's?"
- Character The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation; as, a man's character for truth and veracity; to give one a bad character . "This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it."
- Character The peculiar quality, or the sum of qualities, by which a person or a thing is distinguished from others; the stamp impressed by nature, education, or habit; that which a person or thing really is; nature; disposition. "The character or that dominion.""Know well each Ancient's proper character ;
His fable, subject, scope in every page;
Religion, Country, genius of his Age.""A man of . . . thoroughly subservient character ." - Character To distinguish by particular marks or traits; to describe; to characterize.
- Character To engrave; to inscribe. "These trees shall be my books.
And in their barks my thoughts I 'll character ." - ***
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
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Interesting fact: Hamlet is the most demanding of Shakespeare’s roles with 1,422 lines or roughly 36% of the total number of spoken lines in the play. Hamlet’s role is made up of 11,610 words. The character Falstaff has the most lines of any character in all of Shakespeare’s plays combined with 1,614 spoken lines in three different plays: Henry IV, Part I; Henry IV, Part II; and The Merry Wives of Windsor.
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- n character A mark made by cutting, stamping, or engraving, as on stone, metal, or other hard material; hence, a mark or figure, written or printed, and used to communicate thought, as in the formation of words; a letter, figure, or sign.
- n character Hence The peculiar form or style of letters used by a particular person; handwriting; any system of written, engraved, or printed symbols employed by a particular race or nation of people to record or communicate thought: as, the Greek character; the Runic character; the Hebrew character.
- n character A cipher.
- n character A distinguishing mark or characteristic; any one of the properties or qualities which serve to distinguish one person or thing from others; a peculiarity by which a thing may be recognized, described, and classified. In modern English character is the most general designation for that which an abstract noun denotes.
- n character The combination of properties, qualities, or peculiarities which distinguishes one person or thing, or one group of persons or things, from others; specifically, the sum of the inherited and acquired ethical traits which give to a person his moral individuality.
- n character The moral qualities assigned to a person by repute; the estimate attached to an individual by the community in which he lives; good or bad reputation, standing: as, a character for veracity or mendacity.
- n character Specifically Good qualities, or the reputation of possessing them; good reputation: as, a man of worth and character.
- n character The qualities, course of action, or rôle appropriate to a given person, station in life, profession, etc.
- n character Strongly marked distinctive qualities of any kind: as, a man with a great deal of character.
- n character An account or statement of the qualities or peculiarities of a person or thing; specifically, an oral or a written statement with regard to the standing or qualifications of any one, as a servant or an employee.
- n character A person; a personage: as, the noble characters of ancient history; a disreputable character; specifically, one of the persons represented in a drama, or in fiction.
- n character A person of marked peculiarities; an odd person: used absolutely: as, he was a character.
- n character A stamp or representation; type.
- character To engrave; inscribe; write.
- character To ascribe a certain character to; characterize; describe.
- character To give expression to, as mental qualities to the countenance.
- n character Hence— Appropriate; fitting.
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Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
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Interesting fact: Margaret Mitchell wrote Gone with the Wind between 1926 and 1929. In her early drafts, the main character was named "Pansy O'Hara" and the O'Hara plantation we know as Tara was called "Fountenoy Hall."
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- n Character kar′ak-tėr a letter, sign, figure, stamp, or distinctive mark: a mark of any kind, a symbol in writing, &c.: writing generally, handwriting: a secret cipher: any essential feature or peculiarity: nature:
- v.t Character to engrave, imprint, write: to represent, delineate, or describe
- n Character kar′ak-tėr (obs.) personal appearance: the aggregate of peculiar qualities which constitutes personal or national individuality: moral qualities especially, the reputation of possessing such: a formal statement of the qualities of a person who has been in one's service or employment: official position, rank, or status, or a person who has filled such: a person noted for eccentricity: a personality as created in a play or novel
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Quotations
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“There is no greater index of character so sure as the voice.” -
“No change of circumstances can repair a defect of character.” -
“Do what you know and perception is converted into character.”
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“One stumble is enough to deface the character of an honorable life.” -
“Character is the sum and total of a person's choices.”
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“The final forming of a person's character lies in their own hands.”
Etymology
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
L., an instrument for marking, character, Gr. , fr. to make sharp, to cut into furrows, to engrave: cf. F. caractère,
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
Fr. caractère—L. character—Gr. charaktēr, from charass-ein, to cut, engrave.
Usage
In literature:
Is the Interest centred in Characters or Plot?
"English: Composition and Literature" by W. F. (William Franklin) Webster
THE controversy on SLAVERY, in the United States, has been one of an exciting and complicated character.
"Cotton is King and The Pro-Slavery Arguments" by Various
Hilda Krieff was a person of no common character.
"The Cryptogram" by James De Mille
If it has originally a reflex character, that character fades out and leaves it a pure instinct.
"Introduction to the Science of Sociology" by Robert E. Park
Conscious of the conventional character of his principal theme, the author apparently sought to improve it by deepening its intensity.
"Australian Writers" by Desmond Byrne
The last character which we have to consider in this cross is the Dutch character.
"Mendelism" by Reginald Crundall Punnett
For character is not of the intellect, but of the disposition.
"A Man's Value to Society" by Newell Dwight Hillis
The latter are more uniform in character, possessing in a high degree the character of natural species, and are of ancient origin.
"The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, Volume II (of 2)" by Charles Darwin
Wine-makers assert that the character of their product may be affected for better or worse by the stock.
"Manual of American Grape-Growing" by U. P. Hedrick
Females who have undergone castration become fat and sometimes take on certain masculine characters.
"The Sexual Question" by August Forel
Every change, caricature, or abandonment of such specific character, is as destructive of grandeur as it is of truth, of beauty as of propriety.
"Modern Painters Volume I (of V)" by John Ruskin
It is through being typical that the character is true; it is through being individual that the character is convincing.
"A Manual of the Art of Fiction" by Clayton Hamilton
This explains the power of stories in creating character.
"The Bible Story" by Rev. Newton Marshall Hall
Sinai revealed the terrible side of God's character, Zion the peaceful tenderness of His love.
"The Expositor's Bible: The Epistle to the Hebrews" by Thomas Charles Edwards
His virtuous characters are usually virtuous in the theatrical sense only; his scheme of human character is altogether low and mean.
"A Short History of French Literature" by George Saintsbury
As already shown, texture corresponds to character, and motion to texture, and therefore to character.
"The Illustrated Self-Instructor in Phrenology and Physiology" by O. S. Fowler
Analysis of plot, description of chief characters, and readings.
"Woman's Club Work and Programs" by Caroline French Benton
She was a woman of marked character and ability, known through all that region as Madame Brett.
"The Life of Bret Harte" by Henry Childs Merwin
What is the character of the wings?
"A Guide for the Study of Animals" by Worrallo Whitney
His workshop at Rome gradually took on the character of a school of art.
"The Century of Columbus" by James J. Walsh
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In poetry:
Ye beautiful Lakes of Killarney,
Ye are welcome to me again;
I will now reform my character,
And from all bad company refrain.
Ye are welcome to me again;
I will now reform my character,
And from all bad company refrain.
"The Irish Convict's Return" by William Topaz McGonagall
May we our sisters of the past
In life and character revere,
Like them be faithful to the last,
Like them be loving and sincere.
In life and character revere,
Like them be faithful to the last,
Like them be loving and sincere.
"Ministering Women" by Nancy Rebecca Campbell Glass
Who told the wives that selfsame day
What was their sacred duty,
And told the daughters, young and old,
That character was beauty?
What was their sacred duty,
And told the daughters, young and old,
That character was beauty?
"Sam Jones" by Frank Barbour Coffin
Gone forever with the queer
Characters of that old year
Now the many are as one;
Broken is the mould that run
Men like Abram Morrison.
Characters of that old year
Now the many are as one;
Broken is the mould that run
Men like Abram Morrison.
"Abram Morrison" by John Greenleaf Whittier
By the twentieth century, they'd turned into characters in a
novel,
modern armies on the march,
with drums and aims constantly changing.
novel,
modern armies on the march,
with drums and aims constantly changing.
"Pul ka Itihaas (History of a Bridge)" by Raghuvir Sahay
In characters of living light,
Of kindly deeds and actions wrought.
And these, beyond the touch of time,
Shall live immortal as my thought.
Of kindly deeds and actions wrought.
And these, beyond the touch of time,
Shall live immortal as my thought.
"Carving A Name" by Horatio Alger Jr
In news:
Cartoon caricature or character assassination.
The second problem is that the editors wield their scissors differently according to their view of the characters' righteousness.
Our current poll, about favorite characters in Christmas-themed movies, was one of those last-minute, I've-got-to-change-the-poll enterprises.
With Tony Anthony as the title character and Ringo Starr as a Mexican bandit.
Characters in plays had been doing that since "Oedipus Rex".
Nor is the increased emphasis on character confined to elected officials.
Crime novels are so much more interesting when the main character is flawed.
For those who insist on flinging burnt toast and yelling obscenities at characters on a movie screen — good news, everyone.
Ten tunes of ragged Americana filtered through a grizzled character.
Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt play the same character in 'Looper.'.
Annette Solar would make a kick-ass comic book character.
Ian McEwan's Characters Are Never Sure.
Fresh from winning the Booker Prize three years ago, Hilary Mantel returns with another historical novel about Thomas Cromwell, a character both brilliant and devious.
NEW YORK (CBS) Popular characters from the animated world are invading Facebook.
It's little trouble to believe Pattinson, as the title character in "Bel Ami," can coax a woman.
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In science:
Let ǫ(w) = (−1)l(w) be the sign character of W . (10) Weyl character formula.
Unique decomposition of tensor products of irreducible representations of simple algebraic groups
A calculation with the characters of the tensor product, indicates that the term corresponding to the second highest coefficient of x1 in the corresponding product of the characters are different.
Unique decomposition of tensor products of irreducible representations of simple algebraic groups
Thus, we arrive at the surprising conclusion that the deterministic character of the theory adopted, including quantum mechanics if the process of measurement in excluded, is reflected in their non-Markov character.
From Knowledge, Knowability and the Search for Objective Randomness to a New Vision of Complexity
In [Ha], a character χσ is defined as the induction of a linear character Ψσ from Zσ to Sn .
A Hodge decomposition for the complex of injective words
We can expand the r.h.s. of (21) and (22) in terms of the antisymmetrized product of Gamma matrices only when the division-algebra character of the Gamma matrices coincides with the division-algebra character of spinors.
Hermitian versus holomorphic complex and quaternionic generalized supersymmetries of the M-theory. A classification
As a corollary we establish a character formula for all simple weight g-modules except those which have singular atypical central character for the cases of g = sl(m|1) and g = osp(2|n).
On the structure and characters of weight modules
The Chern character can be obtained from the ordinary Chern character via deformation parameter.
Noncommutative Riemann Conditions
If ωΠ is the central character of Π, this implies that ωΠ/ωn must be a quadratic character µ of k×\A× .
Generic Transfer for General Spin Groups
This proves that the representation in ˘Mp,λ/2 defines a character of the center of ˘U(g) and therefore a character of I(G).
Quantum conjugacy classes of simple matrix groups
The character values of the irreducible representations λ+ and λ− can be expressed in terms of character values of χλ (µ); for the conjugacy class µ not equal to the set of main diagonal hooks of λ (see the definition of hook below), it is given by χλ (µ) .
Poisson--Dirichlet distribution for random Belyi surfaces
Bn,χ denote the nth generalized Bernoulli numbers associated with the primitive Dirichlet character χ, and χn = χw−n , with w the T eichm ¨uller character, cf.[1-24].
On a p-adic interpolation function for the q-extension of the generalized Bernoulli polynomials and Its derivative
For an arbitrary character χ, we define χn = χw−n , where n ∈ Z, in the sense of the product of characters.
On a p-adic interpolation function for the q-extension of the generalized Bernoulli polynomials and Its derivative
Let ψ be a character of the additive group of GF (q), and let χ be a character of the multiplicative group of GF (p).
Pseudo-random graphs
From the exact sequence 1 → π1 (U y , η) → π1 (Uy , η) → Gal(Fq /Fq ) → 1, and (23), it follows that L on Uy “is” a character of π1 (Uy , η) which comes from a character of Gal(Fq /Fq ).
Exponential sums over definable subsets of finite fields
The main idea is that one starts with a fixed L-function and a family of “characters”, and the family of L-functions is produced by twisting the fixed L-function by the family of characters.
Modeling families of L-functions
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