personification

English

Etymology

From person(ify) +‎ -ification.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /pɚˌsɑ.nə.fəˈkeɪ.ʃən/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -eɪʃən

Noun

personification (countable and uncountable, plural personifications)

  1. A person, thing or name typifying a certain quality or idea; an embodiment or exemplification.
    Adolf Hitler was the personification of anti-Semitism.
    • 1837, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], “Publishing”, in Ethel Churchill: Or, The Two Brides. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], →OCLC, page 12:
      He might have sat for a personification of fear: if he moved, he seemed rather afraid of his own shadow following him too closely; if he laughed, he soon checked himself, quite alarmed at the sound.
    • 1913, Edgar Rice Burroughs, The Return of Tarzan, New York: Ballantine Books, published 1963, page 52:
      De Coude was the personification of coolness—was he not the best shot in France?
  2. A literary device in which an inanimate object or an idea is given human qualities.
    The writer used personification to convey her ideas.
  3. An artistic representation of an abstract quality as a human
    The Grim Reaper is a personification of death.

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See also

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