avatar
Pluralavatars
- 1A small, still picture that stands for you online, like a profile photo.
Like a small name tag with your face on it, shown next to what you write.
She picked a cartoon cat as her avatar on the forum.
His avatar is just a tiny photo of his dog.
Similaricon
Note
- 2A moving digital figure you control inside an online virtual world or game.
Like a puppet you steer that looks and moves like a person inside a game.
She designed her avatar to look like a space explorer in the game.
You can make your avatar jump and dance in the virtual world.
Similarcharacter
Note
- 3A god who comes to earth in a living body, especially the Hindu god Vishnu.
Like a king putting on plain clothes to walk among ordinary people.
Many Hindus believe Krishna was an avatar of the god Vishnu.
The story tells how the god took the avatar of a great fish.
Similarincarnation, manifestation
Note
- 4A person or thing that stands for an idea or quality in a clear, living way.
Like calling a very brave person "courage itself."
To many people, she became the avatar of kindness in the town.
The old oak tree was an avatar of strength for the whole village.
Similarembodiment, personification, epitome, incarnation
Note
Practice
Can you tell the meanings of avatar apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.
Origin
It came from Hindustani and Sanskrit, where it meant the descent of a god from heaven to earth. The computing meaning came later, from video games in the 1980s.