characterizechar‧ac‧ter‧ize (also characterise British English) /ˈkærəktəraɪz/ ●●○ W3 verb [transitive] 
Verb Table Examples
The group was characterized as being well-educated and liberal.2to be typical of a person, place, or thing: Bright colours characterize his paintings.
Verb TableVERB TABLE
characterize
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | characterize |
| he, she, it | characterizes | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | characterized |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have characterized |
| he, she, it | has characterized | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had characterized |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will characterize |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have characterized |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am characterizing |
| he, she, it | is characterizing | |
| you, we, they | are characterizing | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was characterizing |
| you, we, they | were characterizing | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been characterizing |
| he, she, it | has been characterizing | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been characterizing |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be characterizing |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been characterizing |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
Thesaurus- He has the confidence that characterizes successful businessmen.
- Robinson's photographs are characterized by the intense contrasts of dark and light areas, and the consequent loss of detail.
- We approached the big empty square that characterizes the centre of Chinese cities.
- Far from being accidents, these things characterized the very foundation of what it supposedly meant to experience gay liberation.
- In trying to characterize these roles, it is not easy to avoid oversimplification.
- It provides an extraordinarily careful and detailed picture and records - factually and unemotionally - the abuses which characterized the whole system.
- Natural law thinking is characterized by two major problems.
- On the basis of many types of psychological testing of individuals, the researchers characterized a personality syndrome they termed authoritarianism.
- Second, the political world is characterized by political stratification.
- The settlement and infrastructure field is also characterized by a wide range of users with a great diversity of interests.
Longman Language Activatorto describe someone or something in a way that shows your opinion► describe something/somebody as
Collocations to describe someone or something in a particular way that shows your opinion of them: · I wouldn't describe the job as boring, just a little repetitive sometimes.· John describes himself as the intelligent but shy type.· De la Cruz is described as Mexico's greatest woman poet.
► characterize somebody/something as to describe the character of someone or something in a particular way, especially with the result that people believe it to be true when it may not be: · A reporter characterized Mrs. Clinton as the most controversial first lady in modern history.· She grew up in a small Wisconsin community which she characterizes as conservative.
► label to describe someone or something in a negative way, especially incorrectly or unfairly: · Children who are labelled "slow" usually get less attention from teachers.· Critics have unfairly labelled Young a racist.label somebody/something as: · Campbell has labelled the commission's recommendations as sheer nonsense.
► portray/represent formal to describe someone or something in a particular way, especially in a way that makes people have an untrue idea of what they are like: · The magazine has been criticized for the way it portrays women.portray/represent somebody/something as: · The treatment has been portrayed as a painless way of curing cancer, which is untrue.· Police have represented her as a willing participant in the crimes.
► depict to describe someone or something, especially in writing, by providing a lot of details which give a very true idea of what they are like: · His stories depict life in Trinidad as seen through the eyes of a young boy.depict somebody/something as: · In this new biography she is depicted as a lonely and unhappy woman.
► paint a picture: paint a bleak/grim/rosy etc picture to describe in a very pleasant or very unpleasant way, which may be very different from the truth: paint a picture of: · My uncle's letters generally painted a rosy picture of how things were.· He went on to paint a discouraging picture of the problems facing the state.
to be a typical example of someone or something► be a good/excellent/perfect etc example something that is a good , excellent , or perfect example of a group or type of thing, has all the usual and typical qualities of that group or type: · There are many beautiful Norman churches in this part of England. Iffley church is a good example.· If you want to know how not to make a video, this is a perfect example!· France produces some of the world's best dessert wines, and this is an excellent example.be a good/excellent/perfect etc example of: · The fox is a good example of a wild animal that has adapted to living in towns.
► characterize also characterise British to be typical of a person, place, or thing: · We approached the big empty square that characterizes the centre of Chinese cities.· Bright, vibrant colors characterize his paintings.· Robinson's photographs are characterized by the intense contrasts of dark and light areas, and the consequent loss of detail.
► typify to be a typical example of a type of person, thing, attitude, or situation: · This letter typifies his loyalty and consideration.· Burke's arrogance seems to typify this government's approach.· Mrs Maugham's attitude towards the television typified her whole moral outlook.
► epitomize also epitomise British to be the most typical example of a type of person, thing, attitude or situation: · His poems epitomize the feelings of the generation of soldiers that fought in World War I.· The auto assembly line epitomizes the conditions that contribute to employee dissatisfaction.
► be the epitome of to be the best possible example of a particular type of person or thing or of a particular quality: · Christine's clothes are the epitome of good taste.· With her neat hair and her flat, sensible shoes, she was the epitome of the traditional librarian.
► personify if someone personifies a particular quality, they are the perfect example of someone who has that quality: · The little boy seemed to personify the poverty and famine of his country.· To the school children, kindness and beauty were personified by their teacher Miss Appleby.
COLLOCATIONS FROM THE CORPUSADVERB► as
Word family· Finnis remarks that the relationship between principles and decisions is too complex to be characterized as pure deduction and nothing else.· His negative expression of this belief in bipolarity was his denunciation of neutrality, which he characterized as immoral.· This pattern of segregation is sometimes characterized as that of a dual labour market.
► often· This situation often characterizes the early phases of an organization's history.
NOUN► economy· The feminine economy has mostly operated outside the System of explicit prices and contracts that characterize the market economy.
► group· This was exacerbated by the instability and personal feuding which characterized the new ruling group.· Some analysts attempt to identify broadly shared patterns of political orientations that characterize a large group of individuals.· Animosity prevailed between headquarters and the field, heightened by the different career backgrounds characterizing the two groups.
► life· Vigorous appraisal of a problem and tenacious pursuit of its solution characterized Edward's whole life.· The relationships and responsibilities that characterized life in the larger society could be put aside here, for better or for worse.· The warm, maternal, caring streak which has characterized her adult life, was becoming evident in her daily life.
► period· This seems to fit quite well with the detailed process of manoeuvring which characterized the early period of financial centralization.
► relationship· Yet while we make this point we must immediately see that these pronouns do not characterize the relationship.· One way to illustrate such a difference is to characterize different relationships between the Symbolic and the Imaginary.· Hence dependence, not interdependence, characterizes the relationship of the South to the North.
► society· No doubt stress and change have always characterized human society and psychiatrists point out that these two factors are closely linked.
► state· The first of these is characterized by state control of the press and its eventual emancipation from such controls.· The Domain of State Action One other way of characterizing the state is to define its appropriate domain of action.
► system· This hand-craft stage was characterized by the stall system.· What concepts can be used to characterize those systems that are not democratic?· It provides an extraordinarily careful and detailed picture and records - factually and unemotionally - the abuses which characterized the whole system.· It has been less completely characterized than the glycolytic system.· Finally, it characterizes some fundamental systems of beliefs, called political ideologies.
WORD FAMILYnouncharactercharacteristiccharacterizationadjectivecharacteristic ≠ uncharacteristiccharacterlessverbcharacterizeadverbcharacteristically ≠ uncharacteristically
1to describe the qualities of someone or something in a particular way SYN portraycharacterize somebody as (being) something The group was characterized as being well-educated and liberal.2to be typical of a person, place, or thing: Bright colours characterize his paintings.