easel
Americannoun
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a stand or frame for supporting or displaying at an angle an artist's canvas, a blackboard, a china plate, etc.
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Also called masking frame. Photography. a frame, often with adjustable masks, used to hold photographic paper flat and control borders when printing enlargements.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of easel
1625–35; < Dutch ezel ass, easel (cognate with German Esel, Old English esel ass) < Vulgar Latin *asilus, for Latin asellus, diminutive of asinus ass 1
Explanation
If you're an artist, you probably use an easel, a stand that holds the canvas you're painting. If an art gallery displays your painting in the window on a solid gold easel, you’re making a splash in the art world! An easel is a tripod, with three long legs that connect together at the top and spread out wide at the floor, for stability. Artists use easels to hold the canvas or paper they’re working on — not just to display finished works of art. If you travel to a scenic overlook, you might see an artist painting the view onto a canvas, propped up on an easel. Easels can display other things, too, like letters, posters, or signs.
Vocabulary lists containing easel
Visual Arts - Introductory
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Visual Arts - Middle School
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Mockingbird
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The desk looks more like a small, table-top easel.
From Barron's • May 29, 2026
Now, he’s relegated his studio space to a spot for recording Cameos, perched in front of a ring light rather than an easel.
From Salon • Apr. 17, 2026
And she plays a supporting role in the background via a mirrored image of her at her easel, eyeing the tree.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 10, 2026
Stars including comedian Tommy Cannon and singer Lisa Maffia also arrived for the service, where a framed photo of Nolan was placed on an easel outside the church.
From BBC • Feb. 1, 2025
She set up her easel under the stovepipe, right next to the back window, because she said it got natural sunlight—which it did, relatively speaking.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
