Other forms: personalities
Somebody's personality is their whole way of being — the pattern of how they think, feel and behave. A strong personality, a warm personality, personality clash.
In psychology it is a technical term with measurable traits, and personality disorder is a clinical diagnosis rather than an insult. In ordinary speech, having personality means being lively and interesting, which is a slightly different claim. A personality is also a well-known figure: a television personality. Note personality clash, the polite phrase for two people who cannot work together, and that character overlaps but leans on morals where personality leans on manner.
1nounpersonalitySomebody's whole way of thinking, feeling and behaving.
“Her personality fills the room before she speaks.”
synonyms: character, temperament
2nounwellA well-known public figure.
“He was a television personality for about a decade.”
Too few real examples of this word to estimate which sense is commonest.
personality is a way of being.
Also accepted in games: character
Latin persona meant a mask worn by an actor, and then a role, and then a person. Personality is the mask's abstract noun — which is a sharper description of the thing than the word's users usually intend.
Latin
persōnālitās
Middle English
personalite
English, today
personality
From Middle English personalite, from Middle French, from Latin persōnālitās. late 14th century. by surface analysis, personal + -ity.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA