n. 1
Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.
in his character as a magistrate
n. 2
A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.
n. 3
A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.
We were not able to ascertain the character of the relationship.
n. 4
A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.
A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.

Related words

Word family: character-based character-building character-forming characterization characterize characteristic characterless charactonym
Phrases: character assassination lead character character reference character user interface gallow character non-player character control character character trait

Forms

Plural: characters → types, sorts, eccentrics, casts…

Choose the right word

Character, Reputation or Record?

Character is what one is; reputation, what he is thought to be; his record is the total of his known action or inaction. As a rule, a man's record will substantially express his character; his reputation may be higher or lower than his character or record will justify.

J. C. Fernald, English Synonyms and Antonyms (1914)

Example sentences

type This is the same type of camera as the one I lost.
eccentric Prof. Smith is famous for his eccentric life style.
tone Did you pick up on that strange tone in his voice?
temperament Tom certainly has the right temperament for the job.
name I beg your pardon; I didn't quite catch your name.
person When can one say that a person has alcohol issues?

Popularity over time

Word	1850 → 2019	Trend
character		steady
type		falling
eccentric		steady
tone		rising
temperament		steady
name		rising

Use in printed books, per decade from 1850 to 2019.

By length

4 letters: part¹, name¹, case¹, kind¹, type¹, turn¹, role¹, sign¹, sort¹, note¹, mark¹, cast¹, tone¹
5 letters: point¹, shape¹, stamp¹, graph¹, tenor²
6 letters: person², figure², nature², letter², spirit², symbol², genius², temper², emblem², cipher², cypher²
7 letters: quality³, writing², station², species², fashion², persona³
8 letters: function², capacity⁴, grapheme
9 letters: reference³, eccentric³, personage, lineament
10 letters: individual⁵, reputation⁴, complexion³
11 letters: description³, personality⁵, disposition⁴, temperament³
12 letters: constitution⁴
13 letters: individuality⁷
14 letters: characteristic⁵

The small number after each word is its number of syllables (tenor² = 2 syllables).

In other languages

Français: caractère
Italiano: carattere
Español: carácter
Deutsch: Schriftzeichen
Català: caràcter