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View synonyms for personification

personification

[ per-son-uh-fi-key-shuhn ]

noun

  1. the attribution of human nature or character to animals, inanimate objects, or abstract notions, especially as a rhetorical figure.
  2. the representation of a thing or abstraction in the form of a person, as in art.
  3. the person or thing embodying a quality or the like; an embodiment or incarnation:

    He is the personification of tact.

  4. an imaginary person or creature conceived or figured to represent a thing or abstraction.
  5. the act of personifying; the attributing of human qualities to an animal, object, or abstraction:

    The author's personification of the farm animals made for an enchanting children's book.

  6. a character portrayal or representation in a dramatic or literary work.


personification

/ pɜːˌsɒnɪfɪˈkeɪʃən /

noun

  1. the attribution of human characteristics to things, abstract ideas, etc, as for literary or artistic effect
  2. the representation of an abstract quality or idea in the form of a person, creature, etc, as in art and literature
  3. a person or thing that personifies
  4. a person or thing regarded as an embodiment of a quality

    he is the personification of optimism



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Other Words From

  • per·soni·fi·cator noun
  • nonper·soni·fi·cation noun

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Word History and Origins

Origin of personification1

First recorded in 1745–55; personi(fy) + -fication

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Example Sentences

Blues with a country beat, the fusion of black and white, had found its personification in Elvis.

Throughout Fault in Our Stars, Gus is the personification of strength and confidence.

In 1968, Ted Nugent was a lightning rod, a personification of transformational freedom.

Quell is a feral creature; a personification of the Freudian id.

Loud, overbearing, and unseemly, he is the very personification of the human id in a mock turtleneck and gold chain.

Chaucer probably found this name precisely where he found his personification of Pity, viz.

I had at first thought it might be "rumorous eyes;" but the personification would then be wanting.

Cyrano, who put to flight one hundred men, could not be expected to fear a person, much less a personification.

Then she moved away to the music, an exquisite figure, the personification of all that was alluring in her sex.

While some are held up as models of virtue, others may be regarded as the very personification of evil.

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personhoodpersonified