character noun
1 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.
2 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.
3 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.
4 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
5 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.
6 letter/sign in writing/printing
ADJ. Chinese | ASCII, numeric
QUANT. set, string
VERB + CHARACTER insert | delete
CHARACTER + NOUN set, string
You can also check other dicts: character (English, 中文解释 ), wordnet sense, Collins Definition