verb

• (transitive) To depict someone or something a particular way (often negative).
  "[Stephen] Miller’s uncle, a neuroscientist, has been welcomed onto the public stage for his denunciations of his nephew’s immigration policies, which the elder Miller has characterized as hypocritical: the Millers’ not-so-distant Jewish ancestors were, of course, immigrants themselves."
• (transitive) To be typical of.
  "There is no way to avoid the slight cups, crooks, bows and twists that characterize wood."
• (transitive) To determine the characteristics of.
  "This glossary includes terminology used in coastal science, engineering, geology, management, nearshore oceanography and the technologies that characterize, measure, describe or quantify the physical properties, processes and changes of the coastal zone."