CHARACTERIZE • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Characterize

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/kˈɛrəktərˌaɪz/ Listen

verb

Characterize v. t. (past & past part. characterized; pres. part. characterizing)

To make distinct and recognizable by peculiar marks or traits; to make with distinctive features. "European, Asiatic, Chinese, African, and Grecian faces are Characterized."

To engrave or imprint. (Obs.)

To indicate the character of; to describe. "Under the name of Tamerlane he intended to characterize King William."

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."

(Chem.) To identify the structure or nature of; as, the antibiotic activity in the sample was characterized by HPLC, and proved to be erythromycin.

Synonyms: To describe; distinguish; mark; designate; style; particularize; entitle.

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Etymology of 'Characterize'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Characterize" Quotes from Famous Books

... procreation." Recognizing the fact that this is the law among lower animals, they insist upon applying it to man. Thus they find no necessity for the employment of those abominable contrivances so common among those who disregard the laws of nature. Who will not respect the purity which must characterize sexual relations so governed? Such a method for regulating the number of offspring is in immense contrast with that of the Oneida Community, which opens the door to the unstinted gratification of lust, separates the reproductive ...

— Plain Facts for Old and Young • John Harvey Kellogg

... you consider what unnecessary pain you have given him by your thoughtless behaviour? I call it "thoughtless," but it is the mildest epithet I can apply to it. I beg that such a thing may not occur again, or I shall be obliged to characterize it more severely.' ...

— Wives and Daughters • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... the opinions and methods of successful specialists in many lines, thus combining the results of the observations and experiences of numerous students in this and other lands. They are written in the clear, strong, concise English and in the entertaining style which characterize the author. The volumes are compact, uniform in style, clearly printed, and illustrated as the subject demands. They are of convenient shape for the pocket, and are substantially bound in flexible ...

— The Fat of the Land - The Story of an American Farm • John Williams Streeter

... by the Saxon defenders of Londonderry, and by the Celtic defenders of Limerick, has ever been granted from the heart by either race. To this day a more than Spartan haughtiness alloys the many noble qualities which characterize the children of the victors, while a Helot feeling, compounded of awe and hatred, is but too often discernible in the children of the vanquished. Neither of the hostile castes can justly be absolved from blame; ...

— The History of England from the Accession of James II. - Volume 2 (of 5) • Thomas Babington Macaulay

... aspirations, right speech, right conduct, right livelihood, right effort, right mindfulness, right rapture. He then enunciates the four truths. The first declares that all clinging to existence involves suffering. I shall have occasion to examine later the pessimism which is often said to characterize Buddhism and Indian thought generally. Here let it suffice to say that the first truth must be taken in conjunction with the others. The teaching of the Buddha is a teaching not so much of pessimism as of emancipation: but emancipation implies the existence ...

— Hinduism and Buddhism, Vol I. (of 3) - An Historical Sketch • Charles Eliot

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