word painting

American  

noun

1. an effective verbal description.

2. tone painting.

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Other Word Forms

• word painter
  noun

Etymology

Origin of word painting

First recorded in 1865–70

Example Sentences

They assiduously avoid the “I” word, painting the committee’s work as garden-variety oversight.

From Washington Times • Sep. 18, 2019

Ms. Wilks’s most highly valued Spiegel collection works at Christie’s were Sigmar Polke’s 1964 Ben-Day dot canvas, “Frau mit Butterbrot,” and “Untitled,” a 1988 Christopher Wool word painting emblazoned with “PLEASE” six times.

From New York Times • May 17, 2017

Accredited institutions are invited, even encouraged, to borrow, say, a simple Christopher Wool word painting or a monumentally complex tapestry of woven metal bits by El Anatsui.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 9, 2015

Even higher was the $29.9 million paid by a telephone bidder against determined opposition from the New York dealer Philippe Ségalot for the American artist Christopher Wool’s monumental 1990 black and white word painting, “Riot.”

From New York Times • May 13, 2015

Recognizing instinctively that the principal subjects of language are thought and action, as the chief interests of painting are form and color, this writer so keenly alive to natural beauty is guiltless of word painting.

From The Eve of the French Revolution by Lowell, Edward J. (Edward Jackson)