What is "character"

Character \Char"ac*ter\, n. [L., an instrument for marking, character, Gr. ?, fr. ? to make sharp, to cut into furrows, to engrave: cf. F. caract[`e]re.]

1. 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.
   --Holder.

2. 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?
   --Shak.

3. 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.
   --Milton.

   Know well each Ancient's proper character; His fable, subject, scope in every page; Religion, Country, genius of his Age.
   --Pope.

   A man of . . . thoroughly subservient character.
   --Motley.

4. Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; as, he has a great deal of character.

5. Moral quality; the principles and motives that control the life; as, a man of character; his character saves him from suspicion.

6. 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.

7. 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.
   --Addison.

8. A written statement as to behavior, competency, etc., given to a servant. [Colloq.]

9. 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; C[ae]sar is a great historical character.

10. One of the persons of a drama or novel.

    Note: ``It would be well if character and reputation were used distinctively. In truth, character is what a person is; reputation is what he is supposed to be. Character is in himself, reputation is in the minds of others. Character is injured by temptations, and by wrongdoing; reputation by slanders, and libels. Character endures throughout defamation in every form, but perishes when there is a voluntary transgression; reputation may last through numerous transgressions, but be destroyed by a single, and even an unfounded, accusation or aspersion.''
    --Abbott.

Character \Char"ac*ter\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Charactered.]

1. To engrave; to inscribe. [R.]

   These trees shall be my books. And in their barks my thoughts I 'll character.
   --Shak.

2. To distinguish by particular marks or traits; to describe; to characterize. [R.]
   --Mitford.

mid-14c., carecter, "symbol marked or branded on the body;" mid-15c., "symbol or drawing used in sorcery," from Old French caratere "feature, character" (13c., Modern French caractère), from Latin character, from Greek kharakter "engraved mark," also "symbol or imprint on the soul," also "instrument for marking," from kharassein "to engrave," from kharax "pointed stake," from PIE root *gher- (4) "to scrape, scratch." Meaning extended in ancient times by metaphor to "a defining quality."You remember Eponina, who kept her husband alive in an underground cavern so devotedly and heroically? The force of character she showed in keeping up his spirits would have been used to hide a lover from her husband if they had been living quietly in Rome. Strong characters need strong nourishment. [Stendhal "de l'Amour," 1822]Meaning "sum of qualities that define a person" is from 1640s. Sense of "person in a play or novel" is first attested 1660s, in reference to the "defining qualities" he or she is given by the author. Meaning "a person" in the abstract is from 1749; especially "eccentric person" (1773). Colloquial sense of "chap, fellow" is from 1931. The Latin ch- spelling was restored from 1500s. Character actor attested from 1861; character assassination from 1888; character-building (n.) from 1886.

n. A being involved in the action of a story. vb. (context obsolete English) To write (using characters); To describe

v. engrave or inscribe characters on

1. n. an imaginary person represented in a work of fiction (play or film or story); "she is the main character in the novel" [syn: fictional character, fictitious character]

2. 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" [syn: quality, lineament]

3. the inherent complex of attributes that determine a persons moral and ethical actions and reactions; "education has for its object the formation of character"- Herbert Spencer [syn: fiber, fibre]

4. an actor's portrayal of someone in a play; "she played the part of Desdemona" [syn: role, theatrical role, part, persona]

5. 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" [syn: eccentric, type, case]

6. good repute; "he is a man of character"

7. 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 to often answered evasively" [syn: reference, character reference]

8. a written symbol that is used to represent speech; "the Greek alphabet has 24 characters" [syn: grapheme, graphic symbol]

Character(s) may refer to:

In mathematics, a character is (most commonly) a special kind of function from a group to a field (such as the complex numbers). There are at least two distinct, but overlapping meanings. Other uses of the word "character" are almost always qualified.

Character is a 1997 Dutch-Belgian film, based on the best-selling novel by Ferdinand Bordewijk and directed by Mike van Diem. The film won the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film at the 70th Academy Awards. The film stars Fedja van Huêt, Jan Decleir, and Betty Schuurman.

Character is the type of income to calculate the taxpayer's tax liability. In the United States, the Supreme Court decided ( Commissioner v. Glenshaw Glass Co.) that income is an accession to wealth, however capital gain is of different character from ordinary income. Ordinary income includes earned wage income and interest income from lending.

A character (from the Greek "engraved or stamped mark" on coins or seals, "branding mark, symbol") is a sign or symbol.

Character (original Dutch title Karakter) is a novel by Dutch author Ferdinand Bordewijk published in 1936. Subtitled "Een roman van zoon en vader", "a novel of son and father", it is a Bildungsroman that traces the relationship between a stern father and his son. Character is Bordewijk's best-known novel, and the basis for a 1997 film of the same name.

In computer and machine-based telecommunications terminology, a character is a unit of information that roughly corresponds to a grapheme, grapheme-like unit, or symbol, such as in an alphabet or syllabary in the written form of a natural language.

Examples of characters include letters, numerical digits, common punctuation marks (such as "." or "-"), and whitespace. The concept also includes control characters, which do not correspond to symbols in a particular natural language, but rather to other bits of information used to process text in one or more languages. Examples of control characters include carriage return or tab, as well as instructions to printers or other devices that display or otherwise process text.

Characters are typically combined into strings.

A character is the representation of a person in a narrative or dramatic work of art (such as a novel, play, or film). Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr (χαρακτήρ), the earliest use in English, in this sense, dates from the Restoration, although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749. From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed. Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person." In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes. Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor. Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or writers, has been called characterisation.

A character that stands as a representative of a particular class or group of people is known as a type. Types include both stock characters and those that are more fully individualised. The characters in Henrik Ibsen's Hedda Gabler (1891) and August Strindberg's Miss Julie (1888), for example, are representative of specific positions in the social relations of class and gender, such that the conflicts between the characters reveal ideological conflicts.

The study of a character requires an analysis of its relations with all of the other characters in the work. The individual status of a character is defined through the network of oppositions (proairetic, pragmatic, linguistic, proxemic) that it forms with the other characters. The relation between characters and the action of the story shifts historically, often miming shifts in society and its ideas about human individuality, self-determination, and the social order.

Character is the fourth full-length album by Canadian cellist Julia Kent, released on The Leaf Label on 4th March 2013.

Character is the seventh studio album by the Swedish melodic death metal band, Dark Tranquillity. The album was first released on January 24, 2005 through Century Media Records. The corresponding single, "Lost to Apathy" was previously featured on the Lost to Apathy EP, their first EP released in nearly ten years. This album is heavier than the band's previous album, with more aggressive and faster songs. Like the band's previous album, there are no clean vocals. The enhanced CD and digipak editions of the album include the video clip for the single "Lost to Apathy". A music video was also made for "The New Build". The album was also released as an LP with different cover art.