character

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   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

2. 2
   noun

   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

3. 3
   noun

   a written symbol that is used to represent speech

   the Greek alphabet has 24 characters

4. 4
   noun

   an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction

   I am the main character in the novel of my life.

5. 5
   noun

   a person of a specified kind (usually with many eccentricities)

   a real character

6. 6
   noun

   good repute

   We want our children to be people of character.

7. 7
   noun

   A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.

   [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 …

8. 8
   noun

   A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.

   A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.

Etymology

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