personage

personage
personage, personality
A personage is ‘a person of distinction or high rank’, and is sometimes applied with irony or humour to someone who is self-important rather than important:

• No longer was I a nondescript of the slums; now I was a personage of the theatre —Charles Chaplin, 1964

• Royal personages officially come of age at eighteen —S. Weintraub, 1987.

A personality is ‘a celebrity or other person who is a focus of attention’, and is used especially with reference to stars of the television and film world:

• Tell us about some of the overseas personalities you have met —J. M. Coetzee, 1990.

The term personality cult has been used since the 1950s to mean ‘the extreme adulation of an individual, especially a leader or celebrity, in terms of his or her personal characteristics’:

• Hollywood was devising the ‘star system’, the big solo buildup, the personality cult of the silent screen —Guardian, 1971.


Modern English usage. 2014.

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Synonyms:
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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Personage — Per son*age (p[ e]r s[u^]n*[als]j: 48), n. [F. personnage.] 1. Form, appearance, or belongings of a person; the external appearance, stature, figure, air, and the like, of a person. In personage stately. Hayward. [1913 Webster] The damsel well… …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • personage — mid 15c., body of a person (with regard to appearance), from O.Fr. personage (13c.), from M.L. personaticum (11c.), from persona (see PERSON (Cf. person)). Meaning a person of high rank or distinction is attested from c.1500; as a longer way to… …   Etymology dictionary

  • Personage — (franz., spr. āsch ), soviel wie Person, Persönlichkeit, gewöhnlich mit spöttischem Nebensinn …   Meyers Großes Konversations-Lexikon

  • personage — index body (person), character (an individual), individual, person Burton s Legal Thesaurus. William C. Burton. 2006 …   Law dictionary

  • personage — / personality [n/n2] celebrity, notable big shot*, bigwig*, brass*, celeb*, chief, cynosure, dignitary, distinguished person, eminence, face*, hot shot*, individual, luminary, monster*, name*, public figure, somebody, star, superstar, top dog*,… …   New thesaurus

  • personage — ► NOUN ▪ a person (used to express their importance or elevated status). ORIGIN Old French, reinforced by Latin personagium effigy …   English terms dictionary

  • personage — [pʉr′sə nij] n. [MFr: see PERSON & AGE] 1. a person of importance or distinction; notable 2. any person 3. a character in history, a play, a novel, etc …   English World dictionary

  • personage — [[t]pɜ͟ː(r)sənɪʤ[/t]] personages 1) N COUNT A personage is a famous or important person. [FORMAL] ...MPs, film stars and other important personages. Syn: person 2) N COUNT A personage is a character in a play or book, or in history. [FORMAL]… …   English dictionary

  • personage — UK [ˈpɜː(r)s(ə)nɪdʒ] / US [ˈpɜrs(ə)nɪdʒ] noun [countable] Word forms personage : singular personage plural personages formal 1) an important or famous person 2) someone in a book, play, or film, or in history …   English dictionary

  • personage — noun A famous or important person. I can only say they have been in pretty close conversation several times of late, and, if I dared to think it of so very calm and dignified a personage, I should say that her color was a little heightened after… …   Wiktionary

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