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Many believed that John the Baptist was Elijah incarnate.

Where incarnate means

invested with bodily and especially human nature and form

But suppose I want to liken someone to some fictional character who exists but in the imagination, what adjective used postpositively would apply in that case?

This, for example:

His friends think that he is Bilbo Baggins....

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    'Many believed .... Here reincarnate means personified or typified, as a quality or idea.' That's not what the article you link to says. It spells out 'The religious concept of reincarnation is the belief that when a human body dies, the spirit that inhabited it is reborn into another body.' So 'Many believed that John the Baptist was Elijah reincarnate' means 'Many believed that John the Baptist was Elijah, returned, with a new body, and for some reason with a new name'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 14:15
  • Thank you, @Edwin Ashworth. I have edited the question.
    – user405662
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 15:21
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    No. 'Incarnate' means 'invested with bodily and especially human nature and form'.
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 15:22
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    No. You can use say either 'remounted his horse' or 'mounted his horse' when it's the third time that day, but not if it's his first time in the saddle. And 'reincarnate' must carry the sense of 'not for the first time'. Of course it gets tricky with metaphorical usages; one can certainly say 'Jack is Bilbo Baggins come back to life!' [the allusion is that Bilbo 'died' when one suspended pathetic fallacy, ie started concentrating on real life ... then saw/thought of a real person one thought very like Tolkien's character].
    – Edwin Ashworth
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 15:41
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    Is there some reason that you don't care for a postpositive participial phrase instead, like made flesh or come again or brought to life?
    – tchrist ♦
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 19:28

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You can use the word 'incarnate', as it literally means 'in the flesh' - as Bilbo Baggins has never really been in the flesh, the 're' in 'reincarnate' doesn't make sense.

Lexico's definition:

(especially of a deity or spirit) embodied in human form.

E.g. His friends think he is Bilbo Baggins incarnate.

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  • Thank you. I think this works. Still let's wait and see if someone has to offer something more precise.
    – user405662
    Commented May 24, 2021 at 15:21

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