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
Michael Naparstek,
The Conversation,
6 July 2026
Most memorable is the adaptation of Twain’s Mysterious Stranger, a supernatural tale in which the personification of evil grants tiny clay people life, only to then confront them with great hardship.
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Jordan Hoffman,
Entertainment Weekly,
1 July 2026
And that isn’t our personifications of Uncle Sam or Lady Liberty.
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Greg Jackson,
Time,
23 June 2026
The vitality of her language, its frolicsome dance with personification, communicates its own resistance in the face of an indifferent world, exploited by imperialist greed and barbaric, militant might.
—
Rachel Vorona Cote,
Vulture,
2 June 2026
See All Example Sentences for personification
Cite this Entry
“Personification.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/personification. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.
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personification
noun
