character

A being involved in the action of a story; a persona.countable

• [I]n a tragedy, or epick poem, the hero of the piece must be advanced foremost to the view of the reader or spectator; he must outshine the rest of all the characters; he must appear the prince of them, like the sun in the Copernican system
• The stories did not seem to me to touch life. […] They left me with the impression of a well-delivered stereopticon lecture, with characters about as life-like as the shadows on the screen, and whisking on and off, at the mercy of the opera

A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; nature; phene.countable

• A single locus governing the petal colour character was detected on the linkage group A2.
• We were not able to ascertain the character of the relationship.

A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.countableuncountable

• A study of the suspect's character and his cast iron alibi ruled him out.

Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.uncountable

• He has a great deal of character.
• "You may not like to eat liver," said Calvin's father, "but it builds character."

A unique or extraordinary individual; a person characterized by peculiar or notable traits, especially charisma.countable

• Julius Caesar is a great historical character.
• That bloke is such a character.

A written or printed symbol, or letter.countable

• It were much to be wished that there were throughout the world but one sort of character for each letter to express it to the eye.

Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.countabledated

• an inscription in the Runic character

A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.countabledated

One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.countable

• We'll start at the beginning, with the basic building blocks not just of emoji, nor even digital communication, but of all written language: characters and character sets.

A person or individual, especially one who is unknown.countableinformal

• We saw a shady character slinking out of the office with some papers.
• That old guy is a real character.

To write (using characters); to describe.obsolete

• O Roſalind, theſe Trees ſhall be my Bookes, / And in their barkes my thoughts Ile charracter, / That euery eye, which in this Forreſt lookes, / Shall ſee thy vertue witneſt euery where.