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noun person's nature/person with a particular nature ADJ. good, excellent, exemplary, impeccable | generous, gentle, likeable, lovable, popular | colourful, larger-than-life, lively, real You must have come across some real characters, working in the circus. | reformed He used to go out every night, but now he's a reformed character. | complex, elusive, enigmatic, odd | forceful, formidable, strong | weak | volatile | prickly, unpleasant | bad, evil, ruthless, violent | dubious, shady, suspicious Who's that suspicious character hanging around outside? | true | local The pub was full of colourful local characters. | human | moral a woman of impeccable moral character VERB + CHARACTER be, have | form, make up | reveal She revealed her true character when anyone disagreed with her. | conceal, hide | reflect His scruffy appearance does not reflect his character. CHARACTER + NOUN trait | defect | change She's undergone a complete character change since her promotion. | reference Applicants were required to obtain character references before being considered for the work. | assassination The defence lawyer attempted a character assassination of the witness (= tried to show the witness had a bad character). | actor, actress PREP. in sb's ~ It's not in his character to tell lies. | out of ~ The lawyer argued that his client's violent behaviour was out of character. nature of sth ADJ. distinctive, individual, unique | essential, fundamental, intrinsic | original | traditional The renovated buildings retain their traditional character. | international, national, regional Food in Italy has a distinct regional character. the features that make up the national character | intimate | public the public character of material published on the Internet | serious offences of a serious character | military, political | rural, urban The development detracts from the rural character of the area. VERB + CHARACTER have Each house in the street has its own distinctive character. | assume, take on As you move north, the landscape takes on a different character. | form, make up factors that form the character of a nation | lose The town centre has lost much of its original character. | retain | preserve | give sth It's the basil that gives the sauce its essential character. PREP. in ~ The houses are Mediterranean in character. interesting quality that sth has ADJ. considerable, great VERB + CHARACTER have His face has character?I'll say that for it. | add, give sth the individual touches that give character to a house PREP. of ~ buildings of considerable character PHRASES full of character The restaurant is cheap and full of character. | have a character of its own/all (of) its own Your handwriting has a character of its own. person's inner strength ADJ. great VERB + CHARACTER show The team showed great character in coming back to win. | build Adventure camps are considered to be character-building. PHRASES strength of character person in a story/film, etc. ADJ. central, chief, leading, main, principal | minor, supporting | fictional, fictitious | believable | sympathetic, unsympathetic | comic, heroic, tragic | cartoon VERB + CHARACTER play, portray The main character is played by Nicole Kidman. | develop the artist who developed the Superman character | kill off The writers killed off her character when she wanted to leave the soap. CHARACTER + NOUN development PREP. in ~ The actors remained in character to answer questions from the audience. letter/sign in writing/printing ADJ. Chinese | ASCII, numeric QUANT. set, string VERB + CHARACTER insert | delete CHARACTER + NOUN set, string
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character ADJECTIVES/NOUN + character the main/central/leading character • Alec is the central character in the play. the lead character (= in a play, film, or television series ) • DiCaprio played the lead character in Titanic. a minor character • Two of the minor characters get killed. a television/movie/cartoon character • Who’s your favourite television character? a comic/tragic character (= a funny or sad one ) • Homer Simpson is a great comic character. fictional/fictitious (= not existing in real life ) • People sometimes forget that television characters are fictional. convincing (= seeming like a real person ) • The characters were totally convincing. a sympathetic character (= one you like ) • In the book, Jeff isn’t a sympathetic character. verbs play a character • I wanted to play the character of Danny. portray a character (= show one in a play, book, film etc ) • The main characters are brilliantly portrayed. develop a character (= make a character become more interesting ) • The movie didn’t develop his character as well as the book did. nouns character development (= the process of developing characters ) • I thought the plot was boring and there wasn’t much character development. a character actor (= an actor who plays interesting or unusual characters ) • He’s a well-known character actor.