Thesaurus results for CHARACTERIZES

characterizes

verb

present tense third-person singular of characterize

as in describes

to point out the chief quality or qualities of an individual or group how would you characterize the mission of this environmental organization?

Synonyms & Similar Words

Relevance

as in distinguishes

to be an important feature of an unsightly rash characterizes chicken pox

Synonyms & Similar Words

Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of characterizes Under that view, a taxpayer who actively participates in management should not receive the benefit simply because state law characterizes the interest as a limited partnership interest. —

Virginia La Torre Jeker, Forbes.com, 11 June 2026 The network characterizes the request for edits as something that should be happening in the newsroom. —

Ted Johnson, Deadline, 7 June 2026 Near the end of the play, Majok’s script becomes, like Mann’s score, flatter and broader in its messaging, losing some of its sharpness of observation, and the humor that characterizes Kaysen’s memoir fades. —

Jackson McHenry, Vulture, 5 June 2026 While the blood-brain barrier may be unfamiliar to many, Papapetropoulos characterizes it simply as the brain’s security system. —

Matt Emma, USA Today, 3 June 2026 The Padres scored in the seventh because of another thing that characterizes the young Nationals, who are 28-28. —

Kevin Acee, San Diego Union-Tribune, 30 May 2026 The conflation of multimodality and hypertextuality has been labeled hypermodality by researchers in order to highlight that the dynamic web of connectivity that characterizes hypertexts goes beyond monomodal texts with recurrent and recognizable characteristics. —

Carmen Daniela Maier, Encyclopedia Britannica, 26 May 2026 In the past couple of decades, however, Czernowin has deëmphasized the frantic gesturing that characterizes so much latter-day modernism. —

Alex Ross, New Yorker, 18 May 2026 Wilson’s approach to public life clearly has an element of what professional wrestlers call kayfabe—the winking, performative trollishness that now characterizes the online right. —

Helen Lewis, The Atlantic, 14 May 2026

Recent Examples of Synonyms for characterizes

Verb

The 3,200-square-foot residence at 10825 Lola Montez Road in Soda Springs, about 90 minutes from Sacramento via Interstate 80, includes three bedrooms and four bathrooms, but the listing describes it more like a private Sierra camp than a conventional home.

— David Caraccio, Sacbee.com, 23 June 2026
In Apple in China, the Financial Times reporter Patrick McGee describes how the US firm’s advanced manufacturing supply chain birthed China’s world-beating consumer electronics sector.

— Andy Browne, semafor.com, 23 June 2026