personifyper‧son‧i‧fy /pəˈsɒnɪfaɪ $ pərˈsɑː-/ verb (past tense and past participle personified, present participle personifying, third person singular personifies) [transitive] 
Carter personifies the values of self-reliance and hard work.kindness/generosity etc personified Bertha was kindness personified.2to think of or represent a quality or thing as a personpersonify something as somebody Time is often personified as an old man.
VERB TABLE
personify
| Simple Form | ||
| Present | I, you, we, they | personify |
| he, she, it | personifies | |
| Past | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | personified |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have personified |
| he, she, it | has personified | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had personified |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will personify |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have personified |
| Continuous Form | ||
| Present | I | am personifying |
| he, she, it | is personifying | |
| you, we, they | are personifying | |
| Past | I, he, she, it | was personifying |
| you, we, they | were personifying | |
| Present perfect | I, you, we, they | have been personifying |
| he, she, it | has been personifying | |
| Past perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | had been personifying |
| Future | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will be personifying |
| Future perfect | I, you, he, she, it, we, they | will have been personifying |
EXAMPLES FROM OTHER DICTIONARIES
- Bertha will be remembered as kindness personified.
- The little boy seemed to personify the poverty and famine of his country.
- The new year is sometimes personified as a baby.
- To the school children, kindness and beauty were personified by their teacher Miss Appleby.
- And Ariadne herself personifies the passively courageous, endlessly resourceful, and lovingly restorative element in every psyche.
- Can I really mean to personify the community in this vivid way?
- She was never separated from the actual earth and personified.
- The child of a black white mating, safe from both cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell disease, is hybrid vigour personified.
- The missing link personified is perhaps Zenabou's daughter Salamatu.
- The moon and the star are personified, the skyscraper is a human skeleton with bones and ribs.
Longman Language Activatorto be a typical example of someone or something
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 ENTRY Bertha was kindness personified.
Bertha was kindness personified.WORD FAMILYnounpersonpersonalitypersonapersonagethe personalspersonificationpersonneladjectivepersonal ≠ impersonalpersonalizedpersonableverbpersonalizepersonifyadverbpersonally ≠ impersonally
1to have a lot of a particular quality or be a typical example of something: Carter personifies the values of self-reliance and hard work.kindness/generosity etc personified Bertha was kindness personified.2to think of or represent a quality or thing as a personpersonify something as somebody Time is often personified as an old man.