20
votes
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics?
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics, behaviours or traits that are not physical?
One easy answer would be reductionist (adjective).
Dictionary.com ...
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12
votes
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics?
You are probably looking for caricature:
a picture, description, etc., ludicrously exaggerating the peculiarities or defects of persons or things.
(Dictionary.com)
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10
votes
Accepted
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics?
This can be called typecasting someone. The term originally comes from acting, but it is often used metaphorically; TfD defines it as:
To perceive or represent [someone] in reductive or stereotyped ...
- 6,316
5
votes
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics?
The term pigeonhole fits what you are looking for. The Cambridge Dictionary has some definitions for this:
to have an often unfair idea of what type someone or something is
to put someone or ...
- 3,533
4
votes
Accepted
What's the adjective for "register" in the linguistic sense?
I would suggest using the noun register in your example:
There is a noticeable difference in register between "how do you do" and "howdy".
That said, if you must use an adjective ...
- 5,876
4
votes
Accepted
The traditional grammar term for 'nominals'
It can be hard to generalize about traditional/school grammar — different books and different teachers have different idiosyncratic views and terminology — but I don't think that most traditional ...
- 14.4k
2
votes
Difference among "suspicion" - "doubt" - "reservation"
If this were me writing this phrase, I'd have said "considerable suspicion". I have reservations/doubts/suspicions (all three are fine), and for that reason, I regard the deal with suspicion....
- 610
2
votes
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics?
"The issue with all the previous thoughts is that they come from a self-centred, judgemental, labelling attitude".
The Oxford English Dictionary indicates that one of the meanings of ...
- 25k
1
vote
Is there a term that describes reducing a person's identity to certain characteristics?
Essentialism
Essentialist thinking says that 'if you are a member of this group, you have all the traits that I associate with that group'.
"The issue with all the previous thoughts is that they ...
- 1,004
1
vote
Why does "hall of cat" sound incorrect, while "hall of cats" sounds correct (and similar)
There is no grammatical rule; it depends on whether the phrase makes sense. I don't know what a 'hall of cat/cats' would be. A 'hall of diamonds' could be a big room decorated with diamonds or ...
- 21.5k
1
vote
Accepted
How do I express the quality of being alien as a noun?
The Oxford English Dictionary on-line (subscription required) has
alienness, n.
The fact or quality of being alien (in various senses).
Although it cites an example of use in 1655, it states “rare ...
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1
vote
Semantic Difference between "Skill" and "Skills"
A skill may be seen as'[exceptional] ability' and, there, it may be used without of without a determiner.
When used to express a generalisation, it may be singular:
"He does it with skill." (...
- 100
1
vote
"Do a shop" for "go shopping"
Common in UK English; 'I'm just going out to do a shop' = the weekly groceries. But 'I'm going shopping' = clothes, gadgets, non-routine purchases etc.
In Scotland instead of 'do a shop' they might ...
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