The Collaborative International Dictionary
Characterize \Char"ac*ter*ize\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Characterized; p. pr. & vb. n. Characterizing.] [LL. characterizare, Gr. ?: cf. F. charact['e]riser.]
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To make distinct and recognizable by peculiar marks or traits; to make with distinctive features.
European, Asiatic, Chinese, African, and Grecian faces are Characterized.
--Arbuthnot. To engrave or imprint. [Obs.]
--Sir M. Hale.-
To indicate the character of; to describe.
Under the name of Tamerlane he intended to characterize King William.
--Johnson. -
To be a characteristic of; to make, or express the character of.
The softness and effeminacy which characterize the men of rank in most countries.
--W. Irving. -
(Chem.) to identify the structure or nature of; as, the antibiotic activity in the sample was characterized by HPLC, and proved to be erythromycin.
Syn: To describe; distinguish; mark; designate; style; particularize; entitle.
Wiktionary
vb. (present participle of characterize English)
Usage examples of "characterizing".
Alfred Blaschko, in PROSTITUTION IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, is even more emphatic in characterizing economic conditions as one of the most vital factors of prostitution.
And when you say the pits, you are characterizing this television fare that's addressed to the lowest common denominator, what's envisioned when we say, it's the pits?
Lindau is right in characterizing some of the motives that led men to the cannon's mouth as no higher than business motives, and his comparison is the most forcible that he could have used.
I believe Fulkerson is characterizing my whole parlance, as well as your morals.
If each corresponds to a factor of ten in the number of bits, there is the possibility of characterizing with the English alphabet a range of information contents over a factor of 1026 – a very large range, which seems adequate for our purposes.
Nick was still simmering as he helped me to my feet, muttering under his breath a continuous stream of invective, characterizing Vastor as a "lizard-faced frogswallower," and a "demented scab-chewing turtlesacker" and a variety of other names that I don't feel comfortable recording, even in a private journal.
Though true, this comment will not inspire cartwheels among our local image shepherds, nor will the sub-headline characterizing Miami as a "city of wheelers, dealers and refugees.