characterized
Syllables: char·ac·ter·izedUK/ˈkæɹəktəɹaɪzd//ˈkɛɹəktəɹaɪzd/
characterized is the simple past and past participle of characterize.
Meaning of characterize
Verb
characterize (third-person singular simple present characterizes, present participle characterizing, simple past and past participle characterized)
- To depict someone or something a particular way (often negative).
- [Stephen] Miller’s uncle, a neuroscientist, has been welcomed onto the public stage for his denunciations of his nephew’s immigration policies, which the elder Miller has characterized as hypocritical: the Millers’ not-so-distant Jewish ancestors were, of course, immigrants themselves.2019 July 15, Greg Afinogenov, “The Jewish Case for Open Borders”, in Jewish Currents, number Summer 2019
- To be typical of.
- There is no way to avoid the slight cups, crooks, bows and twists that characterize wood.1980, Robert M. Jones, editor, Walls and Ceilings, Time-Life Books, →ISBN, page 82
- To determine the characteristics of.
- The second level of reading we will call Inspectional Reading. It is characterized by its special emphasis on time.1972, Mortimer J. Adler, Charles Van Doren, How to Read a Book, Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, →LCCN, page 18
Words formed from characterized
Questions about characterized
- What is characterized the simple past and past participle of?
- Characterized is the simple past and past participle of characterize.
- How do you pronounce characterized?
- Characterized is pronounced /ˈkɛɹəktəɹaɪzd/ (US).
Words near characterized in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: characterized (page history and authors); characterize (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Persent101-characterized.wav.
Cite this entry: “characterized.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/characterized. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
