different between attitude vs character

English

Etymology

From French attitude, from Italian attitudine (“attitude, aptness”), from Medieval Latin aptit?d? (“aptitude”) and actit?d? (“acting, posture”), from Latin apt? and actit?. Doublet of aptitude.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /?æt??tju?d/
• (US) IPA^(key): /?æt?tud/, [?æ??tud]

Noun

attitude (countable and uncountable, plural attitudes)

1. The position of the body or way of carrying oneself.

   Synonyms: posture, stance

2. (figuratively) Disposition or state of mind.

3. (Canada, US) Unpleasant behavior. [1]

4. (aeronautics, nautical, engineering) The orientation of a vehicle or other object relative to the horizon, direction of motion, other objects, etc.

   Synonyms: trim, orientation
5. (ballet) A position similar to arabesque, but with the raised leg bent at the knee.
   • 2007, Gayle Kassing, History of Dance: An Interactive Arts Approach, page 134,

     Blasis was a man of many accomplishments. He invented the ballet position of attitude and codified the ballet technique of that time, distinguishing three types of dancers: the serious, the demi-caractère, and the comic dancer.

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

attitude (third-person singular simple present attitudes, present participle attituding, simple past and past participle attituded)

1. To assume or to place in a particular position or orientation; to pose.
   • 1823, Felix M'Donogh, The Hermit Abroad, Volume 1, page 122,

     […] nymphs of quality, formed for the offices of love and of conversation, are attituded about her, each star set as it were in surrounding satellites of admirers; […]

   • 1837, William E. Burton, The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 1, page 123,

     Attituded like an inspired curling-tongs, leaning back heavily on his right leg, and throwing forward his left, his arm elevated to a level with his shoulder, the clenched fist grasping a brush that might have been available in […]

   • 1971, American Astronautical Society, Advances in Astronautical Sciences, Volume 29, Part 2, page 395,

     The attituded control gyro package, electronics, APS gas supply, and the preentry electronics are mounted internally, and are distributed circumferentially at the major ring.

2. To express an attitude through one's posture, bearing, tone of voice, etc.
   • 2002, Wayne Normis, The Last Street Fighter, page 33,

     He attituded his way over to me, got up close, and just stood there looking at me, trying to appear threatening.

   • 2008, Yvonne Müller, "The Absentee": an Interpretation - an Analysis of Maria Edgeworth's Novel, page 12,

     The typical characteristic attituded toward the English is coldness.

   • 2010, R. Scott, Nine Months and a Year Later, page 82,

     I was really tripping, 'cause this nigga had the nerve to be attituded up when he was the one always doing something he had no business doing.

Further reading

• attitude in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.
• attitude in The Century Dictionary, New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911.

Anagrams

• attuited

French

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /a.ti.tyd/

Noun

attitude f (plural attitudes)

1. attitude, position

English

Etymology

From Middle English caracter, from Old French caractere, from Latin character, from Ancient Greek ???????? (kharakt?r, “type, nature, character”), from ??????? (kharáss?, “I engrave”). Doublet of charakter.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?k??(?)kt?/, /?kæ?(?)kt?/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?kæ??kt?/
• Hyphenation: char?ac?ter

Noun

character (countable and uncountable, plural characters)

1. (countable) A being involved in the action of a story.
2. (countable) A distinguishing feature; characteristic; trait; phene.

3. (uncountable, countable) A complex of traits marking a person, group, breed, or type.

   • A man of […] thoroughly subservient character

4. (uncountable) Strength of mind; resolution; independence; individuality; moral strength.

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

6. (countable) A written or printed symbol, or letter.
   • 1669, William Holder, Elements of Speech

     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.

7. (countable, dated) Style of writing or printing; handwriting; the particular form of letters used by a person or people.
8. (countable, dated) A secret cipher; a way of writing in code.
9. (countable, computing) One of the basic elements making up a text file or string: a code representing a printing character or a control character.
10. (countable, informal) A person or individual, especially one who is unknown or raises suspicions.

11. (countable, mathematics) A complex number representing an element of a finite Abelian group.
12. (countable) Quality, position, rank, or capacity; quality or conduct with respect to a certain office or duty.

13. (countable, dated) The estimate, individual or general, put upon a person or thing; reputation.

    • This subterraneous passage is much mended since Seneca gave so bad a character of it.

14. (countable, dated) A reference given to a servant, attesting to their behaviour, competence, etc.
15. (countable, obsolete) Personal appearance.

Usage notes

Character is sometimes used interchangeably with reputation, but the two words have different meanings; character describes the distinctive qualities of an individual or group while reputation describes the opinions held by others regarding an individual or group. Character is internal and authentic, while reputation is external and perceived.

Hyponyms

Derived terms

Related terms

Pages starting with “character”.

Translations

Verb

character (third-person singular simple present characters, present participle charactering, simple past and past participle charactered)

1. (obsolete) To write (using characters); to describe.

See also

• codepoint
• font
• glyph
• letter
• symbol
• rune
• pictogram

Latin

Etymology

From the Ancient Greek ???????? (kharakt?r).

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /k?a?rak.ter/, [k?ä??äkt??r]
• (Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ka?rak.ter/, [k????kt??r]

Noun

character m (genitive charact?ris); third declension

1. branding iron
2. brand (made by a branding iron)
3. characteristic, mark, character, style

Declension

Third-declension noun.

Descendants

• Hungarian: karakter
• Galician: caritel; ? carácter
• Irish: carachtar
• Italian: carattere
• Old French: caractere
  • ? English: character
  • French: caractère
• Polish: charakter
  • ? Russian: ????????? (xarákter)
• Portuguese: caractere, carácter
• Sicilian: caràttiri
• Spanish: carácter

References

• character in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• character in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré Latin-Français, Hachette
• character in Ramminger, Johann (accessed 16 July 2016) Neulateinische Wortliste: Ein Wörterbuch des Lateinischen von Petrarca bis 1700?^[1], pre-publication website, 2005-2016

Portuguese

Noun

character m (plural characteres)

1. Obsolete spelling of caráter (used in Portugal until September 1911 and died out in Brazil during the 1920s).