1. A tangible or material reincarnation of the Hindu god, Vishnu, typically in human or an animal form: While in India, Leonardo claims that he saw an avatar of Vishnu.
2. A representation or manifestation of an ideal, typically a person or a concept: Edie is regarded as an avatar of charity and concern for the poor.
3. An icon or a symbolic representation for someone using a computer program; for example, chat room, etc.: In her computer, Roxane chose a penguin as her personal avatar in the chat room.
4. Etymology: from Sanskrit avatra, "descent (of a deity from heaven)", from ava, "down" + tarati, "he crosses".

Krishna is the eighth avatar (incarnation) of Vishnu the Preserver, whom many Hindus worship as God.

In computer activities, it is a virtual representation of a person or a person's interactions with others in a virtual environment, conveying a sense of someone's presence (known as telepresence) by providing the location (position and orientation) and identity.

Examples include the graphical human figure model, the talking head, and the real-time reproduction of a three-dimensional human image.