persona

noun per·so·na \ pər-ˈsō-nə , -ˌnä \

Updated on: 21 Apr 2018

Definition of persona

plural personae play \pər-ˈsō-(ˌ)nē, -ˌnī\ or personas

1 : a character assumed by an author in a written work

2 a plural personas

[New Latin, from Latin]

: an individual's social facade or front that especially in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects the role in life the individual is playing — compare anima

b : the personality that a person (such as an actor or politician) projects in public : image

3 plural personae : a character in a fictional presentation (such as a novel or play) —usually used in plural

comic personae

See persona defined for English-language learners

Examples of persona in a Sentence

His public persona is that of a strong, determined leader, but in private life he's very insecure.
The band takes on a whole new persona when they perform live.

Recent Examples of persona from the Web

Greedy club owners and complaisant sportswriters contrived a persona for him as a mash-up of Li’l Abner and Paul Bunyan, a devoted family man and humble Hall of Famer.

— edward kosner, WSJ, "‘A Season in the Sun’ Review: Those Weren’t the Days," 12 Apr. 2018
Zuckerberg added that Facebook only assists law enforcement with users’ persona data when it is required to.

— kurt wagner, Recode, "Live updates from Mark Zuckerberg’s testimony to Congress Tuesday," 10 Apr. 2018
As president, he’s shown no sign of that heterodox campaign persona, driving Trump-curious Democrats back to the fold.

— matthew yglesias, Vox, "The Wisconsin Supreme Court election shows the blueprint for a Democratic wave," 5 Apr. 2018
There are a lot of personas that get projected inside of workplaces.

— cassie shortsleeve, Condé Nast Traveler, "Adventure Trips Are the New Business Dinners," 3 Apr. 2018
As has its impact: Artificial intelligence has borrowed from the HAL persona, and now, unwittingly, a slight hint of Canadianness resides in our phones and interactive devices.

— gerry flahive, New York Times, "The Story of a Voice: HAL in ‘2001’ Wasn’t Always So Eerily Calm," 30 Mar. 2018
Uber board members have cited Khosrowshahi’s status as a family man as one element of his appeal, and a welcome contrast to Kalanick’s good-time-bachelor persona.

— rachel aviv, The New Yorker, "At Uber, a New C.E.O. Shifts Gears," 30 Mar. 2018
Along the way, Stokes developed the kind of persona that has become a trademark for Baltimore guards going back to Sam Cassell and perhaps even Skip Wise.

— don markus, baltimoresun.com, "Going back to his years in Baltimore, Kansas State point guard Kamau Stokes has been a big-game hunter," 22 Mar. 2018
The Sage’s persona examines fashion’s use of unconventional materials and ideas, such as Diana Scherer’s root textile.

— NOLA.com, "Gucci, McQueen gowns illustrate feminine archetypes in NOMA's first fashion exhibit," 20 Feb. 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of persona

Latin

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1732

See Words from the same year

Other Psychology Terms

fetish, hypochondria, intelligence, mania, narcissism, neurosis, pathological, psychosis, schadenfreude, subliminal

PERSONA Defined for English Language Learners

persona

noun

Definition of persona for English Language Learners

: the way you behave, talk, etc., with other people that causes them to see you as a particular kind of person : the image or personality that a person presents to other people

Medical Dictionary

persona

noun per·so·na \ pər-ˈsō-nə, -ˌnä \

medical Definition of persona

plural personas

: an individual's social facade or front that especially in the analytic psychology of C. G. Jung reflects the role in life the individual is playing — compare anima 1