A person’s character is the sum total of dispositions to action (including thinking and saying). An action is (apparently) out of character if it does not conform to the pattern the person has so far exhibited, although it may then be an indication of a more complex character than hitherto appeared. In virtue ethics, character is the prime object of appraisal, and actions are derivatively good or bad, right or wrong, in so far as they would have been the actions of a virtuous person.