Word.ws English Dictionary

personify

/pə(ɹ)ˈsɒnɪfaɪ/

personify verb: to be an example of; to have all the attributes of.

personify: A scarecrow holds a sunflower against a brown background
Photo by White Wings on Unsplash

Verb

personify (third-person singular simple present personifies, present participle personifying, simple past and past participle personified)

  1. (transitive) To be an example of; to have all the attributes of.
    • Mozart could be said to personify musical genius.
    Antonyms:
    unpersonify
  2. (transitive) To create a representation of (an abstract quality) in the form of a character or persona.
    • The writer personified death in the form of the Grim Reaper.
    • If ever any of the girls had taken a fancy to personify their good genius, they would certainly have given to his image all they remembered of "Uncle Frank."1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter VII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 73
    Antonyms:
    unpersonify

personify meaning in Malayalam and Kannada

personify in Malayalam

മാനുഷത്വം ആരോപിക്കുക, മൂർത്തീകരിക്കുക, ചേതനത്വം ആരോപിക്കുക, ജീവനുള്ളതായി കല്പിക്കുക

personify in Kannada

ಮೂರ್ತಿಮತ್ತಾಗಿರು, ಮೈವೆತ್ತಿರು, ಮಾದರಿಯಾಗಿರು

Examples of personify in a sentence

  • That man is an icon in the business; he personifies loyalty and good business sense.
  • In the sentence "She is beauty personified," the postpositive adjective is "personified", modifying "beauty".
  • Because you are people, you personify what you perceive — “peopleize” it.

All 28 example sentences with personify

Synonyms of personify

Antonyms

Forms of personify

third-person singular presentpersonifies
present participlepersonifying
past participlepersonified
pastpersonified

Past tense of personify: personified

Origin of personify

From person + -ify, after French personnifier.

Words formed from personify

Questions about personify

What does personify mean?
Personify means to be an example of; to have all the attributes of.
What is personify in Malayalam?
Personify in Malayalam is മാനുഷത്വം ആരോപിക്കുക, മൂർത്തീകരിക്കുക, ചേതനത്വം ആരോപിക്കുക. See Personify meaning in Malayalam.
What part of speech is personify?
Personify is a verb.
How do you pronounce personify?
Personify is pronounced /pə(ɹ)ˈsɒnɪfaɪ/.
What is the past tense of personify?
The past tense of personify is personified.

Words near personify in the dictionary

  1. personificators
  2. personified
  3. personifier
  4. personifiers
  5. personifies
  6. personify
  7. personifying
  8. personifyings
  9. personing
  10. personing up
  11. personise

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: personify (page history and authors); personify (Malayalam Wiktionary) (page history and authors); personify (Kannada Wiktionary) (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:

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Cite this entry: “personify.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/personify. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.