Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Avatar
Avˊa-tar′
(ăvˊȧ-ta̤r′)
, Noun.
[Skr.
avatâra
descent; ava
from + root tṛ
to cross, pass over.] 1.
(Hindu Myth.)
The descent of a deity to earth, and his incarnation as a man or an animal; – chiefly associated with the incarnations of
Vishnu
. Martha Stewart
, the home-and-hearth avatar
whose products are now available at Kmart
stores, is making upscale design touches like 200-thread-count cotton bed sheets something that most every American can aspire to. Leslie Kaufman (N. Y. Times, May 7, 1999).
Definition 2024
Avatar
Avatar
avatar
avatar
See also: Avatar
English
Alternative forms
Noun
avatar (plural avatars)
- (Hinduism) the incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu.
- The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification.
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- And honest Alan, who was a grim fire-eater in his day, has in this new avatar no more desperate purpose than to steal some young gentleman's attention from his Ovid...
- 1886, Robert Louis Stevenson, dedicatory letter to Kidnapped [contrasting the historical Alan Breac with his incarnation in the novel].
- (computing or video games) A digital representation or handle of a person or being; often, it can take on any of various forms, as a participant chooses. i.e. 3D, animated, photo, sketch of a person or a person's alter ego, sometimes used in a virtual world or virtual chat room.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
- The people are pieces of software called avatars. They are the audiovisual bodies that people use to communicate with each other in the Metaverse.
- 2013 November 27, Roger Cohen, “The past in our future [print version: International Herald Tribune Magazine, 2013, p. 21]”, in The New York Times:
- Devices now track and record our every move and, whether we like it or not, each one of us will bequeath to posterity a virtual avatar, a digital being whose calls, messages, transactions, loves and losses will live on in a vast, unregulated cyberspace. The afterlife has arrived, at least for our cyberbeings.
- 1992 Neal Stephenson, Snow Crash
Translations
The earthly incarnation of a deity, particularly Vishnu
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The physical embodiment of an idea or concept; a personification
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A digital representation of a person or being
See also
Avatar on Wikimedia Commons.Wikimedia Commons
References
- 1 2 “avatar” in Douglas Harper, Online Etymology Dictionary (2001).
- ↑ Morabito, Margaret. "Enter the Online World of LucasFilm." Run Aug. 1986: 24-28
French
Etymology
From Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu) अवतार (avtār) / اوتار (avatār), from Sanskrit अवतार (ava-tāra, “descent of a deity from a heaven”), a compound of अव (ava, “off, away, down”) and the vṛddhi-stem of the root तरति (√tṝ, “to cross”).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /a.va.taʁ/
- Homophone: avatars
- Hyphenation: a‧va‧tar
Noun
avatar m (plural avatars)