photograph
Americannoun
-
photographs
plural
verb (used with object)
-
photographs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
photographed,
past participle, past
-
photographing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
photographs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
photographed,
past participle, past
-
photographing
present participle
-
to practice photography.
-
to be photographed or be suitable for being photographed in some specified way.
The children photograph well.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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rephotographverb (used with object)
-
photographableadjective
-
unphotographableadjective
-
unphotographedadjective
-
well-photographedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
photographsimple
-
photographssimple
-
have photographedperfect
-
has photographedperfect
-
am photographingprogressive
-
are photographingprogressive
-
is photographingprogressive
-
have been photographingperfect progressive
-
has been photographingperfect progressive
Past
-
photographedsimple
-
had photographedperfect
-
was photographingprogressive
-
were photographingprogressive
-
had been photographingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of photograph
Explanation
When you take a picture with a camera, the result is a photograph, a picture of your subject created by a special medium’s exposure to light. The first photographs were created on metal plates coated with a special chemical. Although photography as we know it did not emerge until the 19th century, the word photograph evolved from the ancient Greek words phot-, "light," and graph-, "writing," which were combined to create the word for taking pictures — "light writing." Nowadays we take our photographs with electronic cameras, recording, transferring, and storing the pictures digitally. Times change, and while many people still enjoy using film cameras, they are becoming increasingly rare, and certain types of films are no longer produced.
Vocabulary lists containing photograph
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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Introduction to Informational Text
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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.
See Examples For:
At the building’s entrance, a massive banner celebrates the plant’s recently renewed federal operating license, proclaiming “You Made This Possible” above a photograph of smiling staffers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Searches for “Dario Amodei’s wife” on Google often turn up a photograph of his sister, Daniela Amodei, who helps run the company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
He was sitting in front of an aerial photograph of dry land projected onto a big screen at the OS headquarters in the port city of Southampton, southern England.
From Barron's ● Aug. 12, 2026
Someone asks me to send a photograph I’ve just taken.
From Salon ● Aug. 11, 2026
He clicked it open to reveal a photograph.
From "City Spies" by James Ponti
The photographs were almost absurdly theatrical: silver serving pieces and candelabras, the gilt-and-cream grandeur of the White House, and, arrayed beneath it all, mountains of branded fast-food packaging.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
The winning design - which carries a £3,000 prize - will be filled with thousands of photographs submitted by LGBTQ+ individuals and allies worldwide, "creating one living symbol of Pride", organisers said.
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
Plainclothes federal agents spotted him "walking throughout the golf course grounds taking photographs and videos and appearing to monitor security-planning activities," the sheriff's office said in a statement.
From Barron's ● Aug. 5, 2026
Detectives obtained search warrants for Harvey’s cellphone and his iCloud account, gaining access to his call records, notes, photographs, text messages and other data.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 5, 2026
Go downstairs and you’ll see a whole hallway lined with photographs featuring that same exact smile.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
He traveled to a remote island off West Africa and on May 29, 1919, photographed stars made visible behind the darkened sun.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
Keegan Radomski's home, photographed here before the fire, was built by her grandmother in 1996.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
“He photographed Mexican Americans in the 1980s in New Mexico, and that gave us many ideas,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
This followed interviews in which Jenner had spoken about her struggles with constantly being photographed in public.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
During die war, a national magazine had photographed him in Hurtgen Forest; he had posed, more than just obligingly, with a Thanksgiving turkey in each hand.
From "Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger
And they chuck it together and it looks pretty if you’re photographing it and it tastes like God knows what.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
It shows the motorhome inside a police compound with detectives - in white forensic suits - photographing some of the contents.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
According to investigators, the thieves went to the libraries to consult rare and valuable works, photographing and measuring them, and returned later to replace them with virtually undetectable copies.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
Officials encouraged community members to stay indoors, keep their pets inside and avoid approaching and photographing the animal.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
Hugh Huxley came to my rescue by offering to teach me how to set up the X-ray camera for photographing TMV.
From "Double Helix" by James D. Watson
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.
