mural

American  

[myoor-uhl] / ˈmjʊər əl /

noun

murals plural

1. a large picture painted or affixed directly on a wall or ceiling.

2. a greatly enlarged photograph attached directly to a wall.

3. a wallpaper pattern representing a landscape or the like, often with very widely spaced repeats so as to produce the effect of a mural painting on a wall of average size; a trompe l'oeil.

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adjective

1. of, relating to, or resembling a wall.

2. executed on or affixed to a wall.

   mural inscriptions.

3. pertaining to any of several astronomical instruments that were affixed to a wall aligned on the plane of a meridian, and were formerly used to measure the altitude of celestial bodies.

   a mural quadrant; a mural circle.

mural British  

/ ˈmjʊərəl /

noun

1. a large painting or picture on a wall

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adjective

1. of or relating to a wall

mural Cultural  

1. A painting, usually large, made directly on a wall.

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Discover More

The Mexican artist Diego Rivera was noted for his production of murals.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• muralist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• murals
  plural

Etymology

Origin of mural

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin mūrālis, equivalent to mūr ( us ) wall + -ālis -al ¹

Explanation

A mural is a large-scale painting usually done on a wall. Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist, is famous for the plaster murals he painted on the walls at Rockefeller Center in the 1930s. Famous murals include the wall designs in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome, and the Coit Tower murals in San Francisco. Many murals were created during the Renaissance, and again during the New Deal. They are also common features of urban settings — painted on the outsides of buildings and on playground walls.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mural murals

He’s since become the face of the shop, with a mural dedicated to him outside to welcome customers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 17, 2026

Before long the dining room had red leather booths, a seaside mural on the wall, a bar in back and sometimes a wandering accordion player.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

A candlelight vigil was also held at a newly crafted mural not far from where Salgado Araujo was shot on Canal Street.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

However, he admitted painting the mural was challenging.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

Opposite us, I can't help but also study the larger-than-life mural portrait of Tariq that cropped up on the wall behind where he died.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Like Moo Deng and Neil the Seal before him, he is the latest cute, distinctive and seemingly chaotic creature to be immortalised in amateur footage, sometimes cringeworthy brand posts, and even murals.

From BBC ● Jul. 24, 2026

More recently, the anti-citizenship protests were marked by murals and public readings of the Constitution, while the farmers' movement became synonymous with tractor rallies and livestreams from Delhi's borders.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

And on the opposite bank, giant murals pay tribute to Ukrainian brigades fighting at the front.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

But what most captured the Spirit of ’76 wasn’t murals of Revolutionary War marchers with drums and flags or the “Bicentennial Minute” on CBS-TV.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 11, 2026

I got several murals up, but most of them have been tagged by other people, which is whack.

From "How It Went Down" by Kekla Magoon

Related Words

• art
• canvas
• composition
• depiction
• landscape
• oil painting
• picture
• portrait
• sketch