different between outlook vs character

English

Etymology

From out- +? look.

Pronunciation

• Noun:
  • IPA^(key): /?a?t?l?k/
• Verb:
  • IPA^(key): /?a?t?l?k/
• Rhymes: -?k

Noun

outlook (plural outlooks)

1. A place from which something can be viewed.

   Synonyms: vantage point, overlook

   • 1667, Edward Waterhouse, A Short Narrative of the Late Dreadful Fire in London, London: Richard Thrale et al., p. 97,^[1]

     This fetched tears from the innocent eyes, those Casements and out-looks of the tender heart of our Lord Jesus, who beholding the City Ierusalem wept over it,

2. The view from such a place.
3. An attitude or point of view.

   Synonyms: attitude, opinion, perspective, point of view, vantage point, viewpoint

4. Expectation for the future.

   Synonyms: expectation, prognosis, prospect

Translations

Verb

outlook (third-person singular simple present outlooks, present participle outlooking, simple past and past participle outlooked)

1. (intransitive, archaic, literary) To face or look in an outward direction.

   Synonym: look out

   • 1610, Gervase Markham, Markhams Maister-peece, or, What Doth a Horse-man Lack? London, Chapter 103 “Certaine speciall Notes to be obserued in buying of a horse,” pp. 204-205,^[2]

     [...] marke his colour and his shape, that is to say, a comely well proportioned head, with an outlooking eye, good well raised shoulders, and a thicke large breast [...]

   • 1622, Samuel Purchas, The Kings Towre and Triumphant Arch of London, London, 1623, pp. 32-33,^[3]

     A Towre [...] is, or ought to be [...] mounted with bulwarks, towred with turrets, battailed for out-looking artillerie, enclosed with ditches [...]

   • 1895, Henry van Dyke, “Alpenrosen and Goat’s Milk” in Little Rivers, New York: Scribner, p. 150,^[4]

     [...] would we look at the rooms? Outlooking on the piazza, with a balcony from which we could observe the Festa of to-morrow.
2. (transitive, archaic) To look at (someone) so long or intently that they look away; to win or prevail over (someone or something).

   Synonyms: outstare, face down, browbeat, overcome

   • c. 1596, William Shakespeare, King John, Act V, Scene 2,^[5]

     [...] I drew this gallant head of war,

     And cull’d these fiery spirits from the world,

     To outlook conquest and to win renown

     Even in the jaws of danger and of death.

   • c. 1611, George Chapman (translator), The Iliads of Homer, London: Nathaniell Butter, Book 11, p. 145,[6]

     There made they stand; there euerie eye, fixt on each other, stroue

     Who should outlooke his mate amaz’d:

   • 1645, Henry Hammond, XXXI Sermons Preached on Several Occasions, London: Richard Royston, 1684, Sermon 8, p. 519,^[7]

     [...] the news of the judgment to come, in the Preachers mouth, will be under an heavy suspicion of fraud and cheat, and in fine, pass but for fictions [...] too weak to outlook a brave glittering temptation:

   • 1838, Thomas Miller, Royston Gower, London: W. Nicholson, Chapter 37, p. 329,^[8]

     Once or twice he attempted to outlook the Saxon prisoner, but Hereward shrank not beneath his glance [...]

   • 1911, Henry Gilbert, King Arthur’s Knights: The Tales Retold for Boys & Girls, Edinburgh & London: T.C. & E.C. Jack, Chapter 11, p. 299,^[9]

     The pain which the king suffered would have softened any ordinary heart; but the murderer was a hard and callous wretch, and his brazen eyes outlooked the king.

3. (transitive, obsolete) To be more attractive than (someone or something).
   • 1731, Mary Delany, letter dated 4 October, 1731, in George Paston (ed.), Mrs. Delany (Mary Granville): A Memoir, 1700-1788, London: Grant Richards, 1900, p. 64,^[10]

     Nobody’s equipage outlooked ours except my Lord Lieutenant’s, but in every respect I must say Mrs. Clayton outshines her neighbours [...]

   • 1793, Hester Piozzi, letter dated 22 May, 1793, in Oswald G. Knapp (ed.), The Intimate Letters of Hester Piozzi and Penelope Pennington, 1788-1821, London: The Bodley Head, 1914, p. 89,^[11]

     [...] Sally quite outlooked her sister by the bye, and was very finely drest.

   • 1862, B. F. Taylor, diary entry dated 5 November, 1862, in E. R. Hutchins (ed.), The War of the Sixties, New York: The Neale Publishing Company, 1912, p. 36,^[12]

     Burnside, handsome, stately, outlooked his chief on horseback as on foot.

4. (transitive, obsolete) To inspect throughly; to select.
   • 1689, Charles Cotton, “The Angler’s Ballad” in Poems on Several Occasions, London: Thomas Bassett et al., p. 76,^[13]

     Away to the Brook,

     All your Tackle out look,

     Here’s a day that is worth a year’s wishing;

     See that all things be right,

     For ’tis a very spight

     To want tools when a man goes a fishing.

5. (transitive, obsolete) To look beyond (something).
   • 1680, John Yalden, Compendium Politicum, or, The Distempers of Government, London: Robert Clavel, p. 54,^[14]

     [...] to fit minds to so even a temper, that both should round the same circle, and never out-look the Horizon of their reciprocal Interest, is a work altogether impossible.

Derived terms

• outlooker

Anagrams

• Lookout, look out, look-out, lookout

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).