personification
noun
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The Art of Personification
It was long common in the visual arts to use human figures to represent a range of natural phenomena, personal qualities, abstract conceptions, and so on. The Greeks and Romans showed us how. Many of their gods and goddesses themselves represented a single thing, be it dawn (Eos, Aurora), wisdom (Athena, Minerva), or war (Ares, Mars); when depicted in idealized human form (as, say, a stately woman holding a scales), each became a personification of that phenomenon or quality or concept (in this case, Justice). Inspired by classical art, Renaissance painters and sculptors likewise began producing thousands of artistic personifications--of Time, or Folly, or France, or Vice, or Poetry, or the Americas. And in the 18th century English-speakers began using the word itself. Today artists are less inclined to such depictions, and the word gets used more often to describe actual individuals; when we call someone the personification of style, or greed, or loyalty, we mean the ideal or epitome or embodiment of that quality.
Examples of personification in a Sentence
Nicholas Dames, Harpers Magazine, 29 Apr. 2025
Unable to keep still and reluctant to pause, the 49-year-old came across as the aural and visual personification of someone who lives and breathes music every waking hour.
—Bob Gendron, Chicago Tribune, 11 Apr. 2025
Depp overloads on his irritating brand of wide-eyed whimsy, and a miscast Sacha Baron Cohen inexplicably sounds like Werner Herzog as the personification of Time.
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—Josh Bell, Vulture, 21 Mar. 2025
Rambo has a chiselled jaw, drives a truck, and is the personification of the power of the state.
—Jennie Egerdie, New Yorker, 21 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for personification
Cite this Entry
“Personification.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/personification. Accessed 9 Jun. 2025.
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personification
noun
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