character

noun

Simple meaning

A being involved in a story.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kehrihkter

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice

IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkɛɹɪktɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

countable
A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.
uncountablecountable
A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.
A written symbol that is used to represent speech
“The Greek alphabet has 24 characters.”
countable
A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.
countable
A written or printed symbol, or letter.
uncountable
Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty: A2 · Elementary
Frequency: Very Common
Typical Use: Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Word Aura is being prepared for this meaning.

More ways to use character

“She is the main character in the novel.”noun
“The Greek alphabet has 24 characters.”noun
“He is a man of character.”noun

Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

moral charactermain characternational charactergeneral characterdifferent charactergood character

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

character witnessnounCompound term
A witness who testifies under oath as to the good reputation of another person in the community where that person lives.
character-at-a-time printernounCompound term
A printer that prints a single character at a time.
character assassinationnounCompound term
An attack intended to ruin someone's reputation.
character printernounCompound term
A printer that prints a single character at a time.
character actornounCompound term
An actor who specializes in playing supporting roles.
character referencenounCompound term
A formal recommendation by a former employer to a potential future employer describing the person's qualifications and dependability.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

characterizeverbRelated term
Describe or portray the character or the qualities or peculiarities of.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: being involved in the action of a story

lineamentRare

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.