avatar
noun
Brian X. ChenSam Leith
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Water. Earth. Fire. Air. These are just some of the elements and environments that video game avatars—the images representing and controlled by players—have faced since the days of Space Invaders, to say nothing of today's Pandora’s box of assorted baddies. Avatar comes from the Sanskrit word avatāraḥ, meaning “descent.” When avatar first appeared in English in the late 18th century, it referred to the descent of a deity to the earth—typically, the incarnation in earthly form of Vishnu or another Hindu deity. It later came to refer to any incarnation in human form, and then to any embodiment (such as the embodiment of a concept or philosophy), whether or not in the form of a person. All of these senses of avatar are still in use today, joined by the more recent computing/gaming sense, which may refer to “you” embodied as a mustachioed Italian plumber, for example, even if you are not, in fact, a mustachioed Italian plumber.
Examples of avatar in a Sentence
Josh Broadwell, Rolling Stone, 18 Mar. 2025
Mike himself has been hollowed out into nothingness, his character chipped away into a hollow avatar for a sensitive, caring man dedicated to providing women pleasure.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 14 Mar. 2025
After gathering this information, create a detailed customer avatar including their hopes, fears, dreams and daily challenges.
—Jodie Cook, Forbes, 4 Mar. 2025
Baby Invasion is presented as a hyper-realistic, multiplayer first-person shooter game following a group of mercenaries masking their identity with baby face avatars.
—Madison Bloom, Pitchfork, 26 Feb. 2025
See All Example Sentences for avatar
Cite this Entry
“Avatar.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/avatar. Accessed 23 Mar. 2025.
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