caption
Americannoun
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captions
plural
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a title or explanation for a picture or illustration, as in a magazine, newspaper, or book.
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a heading or title, as of a chapter, article, or page.
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Movies, Television, Digital Technology.
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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.
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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.
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Law. the heading of a legal document stating the time, place, etc., of execution or performance.
verb (used with object)
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captions,
present (3rd person singular)
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captioned,
past participle, past
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captioning
present participle
noun
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a title, brief explanation, or comment accompanying an illustration; legend
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a heading, title, or headline of a chapter, article, etc
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graphic material, usually containing lettering, used in television presentation
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another name for subtitle
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the formal heading of a legal document stating when, where, and on what authority it was taken or made
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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subcaptionnoun
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supercaptionnoun
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miscaptionverb (used with object)
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captionlessadjective
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uncaptionedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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captionsimple
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captionssimple
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have captionedperfect
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has captionedperfect
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am captioningprogressive
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are captioningprogressive
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is captioningprogressive
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have been captioningperfect progressive
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has been captioningperfect progressive
Past
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captionedsimple
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had captionedperfect
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was captioningprogressive
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were captioningprogressive
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had been captioningperfect progressive
Future
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"!
Vocabulary lists containing caption
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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STAAR Grade 7 Reading: Informational Text
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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:
“A big hug to all the friends, neighbors, teachers, and people who have made it such a wonderful place to raise our family,” she wrote in an Instagram caption.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
Everton ended up re-posting the clip from his vlog on their own feed, external, with the caption "emotional resilience".
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2026
“You losing a debate, so you gotta hit the Cliffe Knechtle stances,” the caption on one video reads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
"Don't wait until everybody is scrambling. Prepare before you need it," says the caption of a Facebook video viewed more than 161,000 times under the hashtags #Russia and #plague.
From Barron's ● Oct. 8, 2026
The front page had a picture of Carmen’s mom, with a caption about her story.
From "The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora" by Pablo Cartaya
The central frieze’s action is explicated by Latin captions and framed by upper and lower borders.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 26, 2026
And, yes, lengthy, instructive captions and special hashtags still help boost posts.
From Slate ● Aug. 28, 2026
Others came up with captions including "Don't Look Up," a reference to the 2021 film starring Leonardo Di Caprio parodying societal apathy to the climate crisis.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
One of the captions reads: "She was loved. She wanted to live. She should still be here."
From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026
I stared, trying to grasp the point of the picture and the captions, wondering why it all seemed so strange and yet familiar.
From "Black Boy" by Richard Wright
In photos of the Bahamas celebration reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, guests posed under a heart, and one guest captioned her post “the wedding of the century.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 14, 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
In April, Herbert posted a photo of them on Instagram and captioned it, “My world!”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
An old cartoon captioned “The PhD thesis” shows a little boy firing an arrow into the air, seeing where it lands, walking over to it, and painting a target around that spot.
From "The Sense of Style" by Steven Pinker
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
At the time of their engagement, Gomez shared the news on Instagram, captioning a series of photos of her ring with the words, “forever begins now.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 28, 2025
"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
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
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