What characteristic describes a language that uses tags around text to indicate formatting?

The characteristic that describes a language using tags around text to indicate formatting is referred to as markup. Markup languages utilize tags to define elements within a document, enabling the browser or processor to know how to display or interpret the content. Common examples of markup languages include HTML (Hypertext Markup Language) and XML (eXtensible Markup Language).

In a markup language, these tags can indicate headings, paragraphs, links, images, and other types of content, providing structural and formatting instructions. This approach allows for the clear separation of content and presentation, making it easier to manage and manipulate the data represented.

The other choices do not capture the essence of using tags for formatting text. Objects are more related to object-oriented programming concepts, compilers are tools that translate code from high-level programming languages to machine code, and scripts typically refer to a sequence of commands that automate tasks rather than focusing on the markup aspect. Therefore, markup is the most accurate term to describe a language that uses tagging for formatting purposes.