characterise

Characterise is a verb meaning to describe the distinctive qualities or features of someone or something, or to determine the character or nature of a thing. In British English the spelling is characterise, while American English uses characterize. The term is widely used in formal writing, science, and analysis.

Etymology traces characterise to the word character with the suffix -ise, influenced by French characterization and ultimately from Late Latin characterizare, itself from Greek charaktêrizein. The root idea is to mark or describe the defining features of something.

Usage and nuance: characterise is used to convey a careful description of attributes, behaviors, or properties. It can describe people (to characterise a historical figure), phenomena (to characterise a process), or objects (to characterise a protein or dataset). In literature, it denotes presenting or revealing the traits that make a character distinctive. In research, it may involve summarizing findings to outline the characteristic features of results or methods.

Noun forms related to the process are characterization (US) and characterisation (UK). The choice of -ize/-ise spelling signals regional variant but does not change meaning. See also character, characterization, and character analysis.