characterization

noun char·ac·ter·i·za·tion \ ˌker-ik-t(ə-)rə-ˈzā-shən , ˌka-rik- \

|Updated on: 10 Jun 2018

Examples: characterization in a Sentence

Definition of characterization

: the act of characterizing; especially : the artistic representation (as in fiction or drama) of human character or motives

the author's characterization of the boy as someone who wanted to be accepted by others

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Examples of characterization in a Sentence

The reporter was criticized for his characterization of the people of the town as poor and uneducated.
News reporting requires accurate characterization.
The class discussed the author's characterization of the boy as someone who wanted to be accepted by others.
The story has good characterization.

Recent Examples of characterization from the Web

Ken Trujillo, a lawyer for Aspira, disputed DePasquale’s characterization of soaring management fees, the bulk of which Trujillo said went to salaries for maintenance and educational support workers.

— maddie hanna, Philly.com, "Auditor general blasts Aspira and Pa. charter-school law," 23 May 2018
According to Wilson and Ross, the further back people go, the more negative their characterization becomes.

— steve ayan, Scientific American, "10 Things You Don’t Know About Yourself," 15 May 2018
McCrory also told the Observer that his characterization of the Black Political Caucus was meant to be a salute to its effectiveness.

— tim funk, charlotteobserver, "Black Caucus chair: Ex-NC Gov. Pat McCrory played 'race card in reverse' on talk show | Charlotte Observer," 11 May 2018
Wheeler spokesman Michael Cox refuted Hardesty’s characterizations Monday, defending the mayor as seeking only to broker a compromise.

— OregonLive.com, "Council candidate slams mayor for opposition to Portland retail tax measure," 8 May 2018
Cohen’s lawyer denied Avenatti’s characterization: Michael Cohen’s attorney, Steve Ryan, won’t discuss the $500,000 Michael Avenatti says Cohen received from Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg in 2017.

— benjamin hart, Daily Intelligencer, "Stormy Daniels’ Lawyer Claims Russian Oligarch Reimbursed Michael Cohen," 8 May 2018
The effect is to give the audience a little hint of in medias res characterization, before returning to the exposition-heavy Act One.

— josephine livingstone, The New Republic, "The First Great Film Adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull," 24 Apr. 2018
Once Rampage tries to weave in plot and characterization, the experiment becomes untenable.

— david sims, The Atlantic, "Rampage Is a Big, Noisy Nothing," 13 Apr. 2018
Douthat’s characterization of the church as an unchanging, unified body, thrust into chaos by modernity, and the pope as a distinct threat to that unity, is overstated.

— tara isabella burton, Vox, "The conservative case against Pope Francis — and why it matters," 5 Apr. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'characterization.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of characterization

see ¹character

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1841

in the meaning defined above

See Words from the same year

Other Literature Terms

apophasis, bathos, bildungsroman, bowdlerize, caesura, coda, doggerel, euphemism, poesy, prosody