avatar

[ av-uh-tahr, av-uh-tahr ]
See synonyms for avatar on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Hinduism. the descent of a deity to the earth in an incarnate form or some manifest shape; the incarnation of a god.

  2. an embodiment or personification, as of a principle, attitude, or view of life: Her complete loss of confidence was particularly unsettling, because generally she is the very avatar of hope.

  1. Digital Technology. a static or moving image or other graphic representation that acts as a proxy for a person or is associated with a specific digital account or identity, as on the internet: My friend always chooses warriors as his video game avatars.Now that spring's here I've switched my Instagram avatar from a stack of books to a robin's egg.

  2. Also called avatar mouse, mouse avatar . a mouse that is implanted with cells or tissue freshly extracted from a human being, as to test drug therapies for an individual patient or to study a disease process: Researchers transplanted samples of the patient’s tumor into specially bred avatars.

  3. (in science fiction) a hybrid creature, composed of human and alien DNA and remotely controlled by the mind of a genetically matched human being.

Origin of avatar

1
First recorded in 1775–85; from Sanskrit avatāra “a passing down, descent,” from ava “down” + -tāra “a passing over” (akin to Latin trāns “across, beyond, through”; see also through )

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use avatar in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for avatar

avatar

/ (ˈævəˌtɑː) /


noun
  1. Hinduism the manifestation of a deity, notably Vishnu, in human, superhuman, or animal form

  2. a visible manifestation or embodiment of an abstract concept; archetype

  1. a movable image that represents a person in a virtual reality environment or in cyberspace

Origin of avatar

1
C18: from Sanskrit avatāra a going down, from avatarati he descends, from ava down + tarati he passes over

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Cultural definitions for avatar

avatar

[ (av-uh-tahr) ]


In Hinduism, a god made visibly present, especially in a human form. The Buddha is considered an avatar of the god Vishnu.

Notes for avatar

By extension, an “avatar” is any new embodiment of an old idea.

The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.