characterize

verb
/ˈkæɹəktəɹaɪz/UK/ˈkɛɹəktəɹaɪz/US

Etymology

Etymology tree Ancient Greek χαράσσω (kharássō) Proto-Indo-European *-tḗr Ancient Greek -τήρ (-tḗr) Ancient Greek χᾰρᾰκτήρ (khărăktḗr) Proto-Indo-European *-id- Proto-Indo-European *-yéti Proto-Indo-European *-idyéti Proto-Hellenic *-íďďō Ancient Greek -ῐ́ζω (-ĭ́zō) Ancient Greek χᾰρακτηρίζω (khăraktērízō)der. Medieval Latin charactērizōder. English characterize From Medieval Latin charactērizō, from Ancient Greek χαρακτηρίζω (kharaktērízō, “to designate by a characteristic mark”), from χαρακτήρ (kharaktḗr, “a mark, character”). By surface analysis, character + -ize.

  1. derived from charactērizō

Definitions

  1. To depict someone or something a particular way (often negative).

  2. To be typical of.

    • There is no way to avoid the slight cups, crooks, bows and twists that characterize wood.
  3. To determine the characteristics of.

    • The second level of reading we will call Inspectional Reading. It is characterized by its special emphasis on time.

The neighborhood

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at characterize. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01characterize02determine03investigating04investigate05scrutinize06examine07qualifications08qualification09qualifying10qualify

A definitional loop anchored at characterize. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at characterize

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA