Dictionary Definition

personage

1 another word for person; a person not meriting identification; "a strange personage appeared at the door"

2 a person whose actions and opinions strongly influence the course of events [syn: important person, influential person]

User Contributed Dictionary

A famous or important person.
- 1872, Oliver Wendell Holmes [Sr.], The Poet at the Breakfast-Table, page 230
  
  I can only say they have been in pretty close conversation several times of late, and, if I dared to think it of so very calm and dignified a personage, I should say that her color was a little heightened after one or more of these interviews.

In modern use, the noun personage is typically used with a partially redundant adjective, such as "notable" or "great"; as such, it may fairly be said to mean simply "person".

A famous or important person

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