airbrush
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
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to paint or decorate, using an airbrush.
to airbrush murals; to airbrush silk kimonos.
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to remove or alter by or as by means of an airbrush.
to airbrush facial lines from a photograph.
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to prettify or sanitize.
airbrushed versions of modern history.
noun
verb
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to paint or varnish (something) by using an airbrush
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to improve the image of (a person or thing) by concealing defects beneath a bland exterior
an airbrushed version of the government's record
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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airbrushsimple
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airbrushessimple
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have airbrushedperfect
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has airbrushedperfect
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am airbrushingprogressive
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are airbrushingprogressive
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is airbrushingprogressive
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have been airbrushingperfect progressive
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has been airbrushingperfect progressive
Past
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airbrushedsimple
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had airbrushedperfect
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was airbrushingprogressive
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were airbrushingprogressive
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had been airbrushingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of airbrush
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.
See Examples For:
"We cannot airbrush French Jews out of the republic's family photo".
From Barron's ● Feb. 13, 2026
Tennis Association has asked carriers to airbrush the reaction, tennis scribe Ben Rothenberg reported –Alcaraz-Sinner has become the best theater in sports.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 7, 2025
They are then covered in chocolate ganache and modelling chocolate, before an airbrush pen is used to sculpt the characters.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2024
Working in both oil and acrylic, she has experimented with different ways of applying and adjusting paint, sometimes using a silicone dish sponge, other times creatively wielding an airbrush.
From New York Times ● Apr. 26, 2024
His plan was to become a full-time airbrush artist.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 4, 2023
He borrowed airbrushes from his fellow students, who would also give him their pencil stubs instead of tossing them out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 21, 2023
The multiplayer-focused game has players dousing maps with a variety of weaponized painting tools, ranging from paint rollers to airbrushes.
From The Verge ● Feb. 2, 2022
But I don’t want their image of their father to be a work of posthumous fiction that airbrushes out all his other truths.
From The Guardian ● Apr. 9, 2016
The heads surround the table where Amy Johnson airbrushes skin, lips and eyes.
From Washington Times ● Oct. 4, 2014
"The danger to me of seeing everything from the '60s as a concrete monstrosity worthy of demolition is that it airbrushes out a whole period of history and architecture."
From BBC ● Aug. 1, 2014
Sophie and Arpad have airbrushed their problematic pasts from their official back stories.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 24, 2025
Keen-eyed fans will spot that Gotham City Police Department is actually the Liver Building's clock tower, although the giant Liver Bird was airbrushed out.
From BBC ● May 9, 2025
The artwork of Mister Cartoon can be seen pretty much everywhere — tattooed on celebrities, exhibited in art galleries, airbrushed on cars, painted on public walls and printed on team jerseys.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 22, 2024
Meanwhile, during Chiles' Olympic performance, the gymnast showed off square-shaped, airbrushed blue and red snakeskin tips, which were separated by a wavy gold line to play with symmetry.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2024
The airbrushed apron said so in a neon.yellow-and-green font against a black background that matched the sign.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
He also started diligently airbrushing or painting over photographs of the deceased: “I paint out all the abrasions, cuts and bruises, and open the eyes,” he explained, essentially resurrecting a likeness of the victim.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 29, 2026
But unlike traditional airbrushing, which at least began with a real person, these AI models are digitally created to look perfect, free from human flaws, inconsistencies or uniqueness.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2025
The airbrushing was so over-the-top, the eyes so blue, the lips so rouged, that he looked like a porcelain doll.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
In one scene, Cruella disrupts a fashion show on a motorcycle and Stacey had the idea to make an obviously loud statement with the character’s makeup by airbrushing “The Future” over Stone’s eyes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 16, 2022
Yet destroying all those objects, which smacks of airbrushing history, poses its own risk.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 30, 2022
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.
