- present participle of paint.
noun
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the art or process of applying paints to a surface such as canvas, to make a picture or other artistic composition
-
a composition or picture made in this way
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the act of applying paint to a surface with a brush
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of painting
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at paint, -ing 1
Explanation
If you want to study painting, go to art school. If that doesn’t work out, maybe you can get a job painting houses. Then you can paint a house purple or paint a picture, which is called a painting. Slapping a coat of paint on your apartment walls is painting, but so is creating a masterpiece like Van Gogh's "Starry Night" or maybe even C.M. Coolidge’s “Dogs Playing Poker.” The picture that results from your painting experiments is also called a painting. The Latin root of painting, pingere, means "to paint," but also "to stain, embroider, or tattoo."
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:
After suffering the loss of her child, journalist Esme Saleh leaned into her creative side, painting folk art-inspired taper candles as a way to move forward.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
But about five years ago, a university committee began to uncover how standard accounting measures were painting a misleading financial picture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
The prosecutor's office is already investigating a criminal complaint regarding the 958,000-euro renovation of the tower's surrounding 700-metre wall, for which workers were painting a brick-effect concrete facade instead of laying brick cladding.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
Neill, reminiscing on mortality, said this wish was inspired by a painting he owned by Helena Bonham Carter’s mother, Elena Propper de Callejón.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
And as he held Minna’s hands in his, painting, she began to sing.
From "Not Nothing" by Gayle Forman
He also took inspiration from paintings, including Alexandre Cabanel’s 1847 work “The Fallen Angel.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
In those solo presentations, Usha Seejarim’s conceptual sculptures and wall works examined gender and sexuality through repurposed objects, and Mmangaliso Nzuza’s biographical paintings infused Western art history with African trends.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
Stories of Greek and Roman gods in pursuit of pleasure and vengeance, aided by their hounds, are captured in Roman sculpture and paintings of the Renaissance and Baroque.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
But the lawsuit states that the paintings stood as collateral for a $150-million loan toward the purchase.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026
The story Perugia told the police began a year before the theft, when the Louvre decided to put its most famous paintings behind glass.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
