From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishavatarav‧a‧tar /ˈævətɑː $ -tɑːr/ noun [countable] 1 literary a person or animal who is really a god in human or animal form2 formal a person who represents an idea or quality3 a picture of a person or animal that represents you on a computer screen, for example in some chat rooms or when you are playing games over the Internet
Examples from the Corpus
avatar• For some, the use of an avatar frees them from shyness and allows them to interact more openly and honestly.• A person's cyberspace avatar could have any desired appearance and behaviour.• The avatar can be a realistic depiction of the actual person or a completely fanciful one.Origin avatar (1700-1800) Sanskrit avatara “descent”, from avatarati “he or she comes down” 