caption

American  

[kap-shuhn] / ˈkæp ʃən /

noun

• captions
  plural

1. a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, as in a magazine, newspaper, or book.

2. a heading or title, as of a chapter, article, or page.

3. Movies, Television, Digital Technology.

   1. a transcription or translation of dialogue and a written description of other audio elements, as sound effects, music, or atmospheric sounds, displayed as a graphic overlay on the lower part of the screen in a television program, film, video, or video game.

   2. subtitle.

   3. a title or annotation displayed as a graphic overlay on the screen in a television program, film, video, or video game, as to set the scene, name a location, or specify a time or date.

4. Law. the heading of a legal document stating the time, place, etc., of execution or performance.

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verb (used with object)

• captions,
  present (3rd person singular)
• captioned,
  past participle,  past
• captioning
  present participle

1. to supply a caption or captions for.

   to caption a photograph.

caption British  

/ ˈkæpʃən /

noun

1. a title, brief explanation, or comment accompanying an illustration; legend

2. a heading, title, or headline of a chapter, article, etc

3. graphic material, usually containing lettering, used in television presentation

4. another name for subtitle

5. the formal heading of a legal document stating when, where, and on what authority it was taken or made

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verb

1. to provide with a caption or captions

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• subcaption
  noun
• supercaption
  noun
• miscaption
  verb (used with object)
• captionless
  adjective
• uncaptioned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• captions
  plural

Participles

• captioning
  present
• captioned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• caption
  simple
• captions
  simple
• have captioned
  perfect
• has captioned
  perfect
• am captioning
  progressive
• are captioning
  progressive
• is captioning
  progressive
• have been captioning
  perfect progressive
• has been captioning
  perfect progressive

Past

• captioned
  simple
• had captioned
  perfect
• was captioning
  progressive
• were captioning
  progressive
• had been captioning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will caption
  simple
• will have captioned
  perfect
• will be captioning
  progressive
• will have been captioning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of caption

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English capcio(u)n “seizure,” from Latin captiōn- (stem of captiō ), equivalent to capt(us) “taken” ( see captive) + -iōn- -ion

Explanation

A caption is a brief description accompanying an illustration. You know the online photo of your baby cousin face-planting into a cake? The description underneath it that says "Hugh's First Birthday" — that's the caption. The Latin root of caption is capito, which means "seizing" or "holding." What do captions have to do with seizing? Nothing. Centuries ago, when authorities seized someone's property for legal reasons, they presented documents that began with the phrase "certificate of caption." Eventually people began using the word to refer to the beginning of any document. Then they began using it to mean any article or chapter heading. And from chapter headings it was a short hop to picture headings. A long journey for a word whose definition includes the description "brief"!

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

caption captions captioned captioning

This followed a picture of her pregnant body accompanied by the caption that “peak feminism is having babies.”

From Salon ● Aug. 26, 2026

“I made it yall,” Harrison wrote in the caption of a TikTok video showing the CBS LA piece about the pig.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 18, 2026

In the caption of the post, she wrote that although she’d kept the news to herself for various reasons, she wanted to share her diagnosis.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026

“Gen X: We straight up raised ourselves,” reads the caption on one popular internet meme, a photo of an unhelmeted child on a rickety-looking bicycle popping a wheelie.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 31, 2026

The assumed shape of the Jupiter bird’s toe bone, as imagined by paleontologists, the caption read.

From "A Tangle of Knots" by Lisa Graff

Wormald often shared photos of Bennett on his Instagram with loving captions.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

Some videos make it onto Brovdi's social media accounts -- where he is followed by hundreds of thousands -- with cartoony music and mocking captions.

From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026

Lines of dialogue are followed by explanatory glosses, like the captions beneath photographs, so that they cannot be misinterpreted.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 29, 2026

Simple adjustments, like written summaries after meetings and captions on video calls, could make a big difference, he says.

From BBC ● Apr. 16, 2026

In the few newspaper photographs in which she appeared, always with her husband, the captions read: Mr. and Mrs. Samuel W. Westing.

From "The Westing Game" by Ellen Raskin

One captioned "Japan made it out the group chat" has 1.1 million views.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

On Wednesday, Crowley posted a chummy-looking photo of a breakfast meeting that included Hong and was captioned “Wisconsin Democrats are united.”

From Slate ● Aug. 14, 2026

“The movement has begun,” Greene captioned the picture.

From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026

Teilz captioned her repost: “Jared Leto was a creep then..still a creep now, going on 15+ years of being Hollywood’s most persistent predator,” according to the BBC documentary.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026

The Post-Intelligencer ran it under a picture of Joe captioned “Joe Rantz, The Eating Champion.”

From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown

Lily Tomlin, Parton's co-star in the 1980 film "9 to 5" posted a black and white picture of the two of them decades earlier, captioning it simply: "No words".

From Barron's ● Aug. 25, 2026

The book’s captioning about the white organdy costume Graham designed for herself, currently displayed in the library, notes that its inspiration was the “night-blooming Cereus” flower.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 9, 2026

"Closed captioning is not just a workaround; it's a method of preserving the integrity of both visual and auditory storytelling for diverse audiences," says Prof Alexander.

From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2025

In the 1980s, she convinced lawmakers to add closed captioning to television programming.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2025

I consider captioning it with #EndDay, but I don’t need fake sympathetic “oh no, R.I.P!!!!” comments or trolls telling me to “Rest in Pieces!!!!”

From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera

Related Words

• inscription
• subtitle