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# characterise

verb (characterise, characterises, characterised, characterising); US spelling characterize

«characterise» in the English dictionary: everyday — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. To be the typical feature or quality of something. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#m1)
2. To describe what someone or something is like. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#m2)

### In the lessons

Used in science and English lessons: "deserts are characterised by little rain", "how would you characterise the main character?". Formal; common in exam questions. Phrases: be characterised by, characterise as.

### Examples

- Deserts are characterised by very little rain. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x1)
- How would you characterise the giant in the story? [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x2)
- The music is characterised by fast drums. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x3)
- The teacher characterised the class as hard-working. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x4)
- Mammals are characterised by having fur or hair. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x5)
- Her paintings are characterised by bright colours. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x6)
- The firm foundations of common sense, the shrewd shots at uncommon sense, that characterise all the Fables, belong not him but to humanity. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/#x7)

### Note

UK, Australia, NZ, Ireland often spell it "characterise"; the USA and Canada spell it "characterize". Nouns: character, characteristic (a typical feature). Not a maths word.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «characterise» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/C/characterise/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«characterise» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/characterise.html) on Mova free.