personify

/pərˌsɑnəˈfaɪ/

/pəˈsɒnɪfaɪ/

Other forms: personified; personifies; personifying

To personify is to give something lifeless human-like qualities — like when Emily Dickinson wrote, "Because I could not stop for Death, He kindly stopped for me..."

You can also use the verb personify to show one person embodying another, like an actor attempting to personify Abraham Lincoln in a play about the former president. A person can also personify a value or emotion, as when the founder of a charitable organization is said to personify generosity and selflessness. When you add the suffix -ify (meaning "to make") to a noun, you "verbify" that noun. So personify means "to make into a person."

Definitions of personify

1. verb

   attribute human qualities to something
   synonyms: personate

   type of:

   ascribe, assign, attribute, impute

   attribute or credit to
2. verb

   invest with or as with a body; give body to
   synonyms: body

   type of:

   be, embody

   represent, as of a character on stage
3. verb

   represent, as of a character on stage
   synonyms: be, embody

   types:

   body

   invest with or as with a body; give body to

   exemplify, represent

   be characteristic of

   type of:

   emblematize, represent, stand for, symbolise, symbolize, typify

   express indirectly by an image, form, or model; be a symbol