depict
American
verb
-
to represent by or as by drawing, sculpture, painting, etc; delineate; portray
-
to represent in words; describe
Synonym Usage
Depict, portray, sketch imply a representation of an object or scene by colors or lines, or by words. Depict emphasizes vividness of detail: to depict the confusion of departure. Portray emphasizes faithful representation: We could not portray the anguish of the exiles. Sketch suggests the drawing of the outlines of the most prominent features or details, often in a preparatory way: to sketch the plans for a community development.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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depictsimple
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depictssimple
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have depictedperfect
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has depictedperfect
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am depictingprogressive
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are depictingprogressive
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is depictingprogressive
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have been depictingperfect progressive
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has been depictingperfect progressive
Past
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depictedsimple
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had depictedperfect
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was depictingprogressive
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were depictingprogressive
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had been depictingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of depict
First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin dēpictus (past participle of dēpingere ), equivalent to dē- de- + pic- past participle stem of pingere “to paint” ( see paint) + -tus past participle suffix
Explanation
When you depict something, you draw a picture of it, describe it, or show what it looks like. So grab a crayon, a paint brush, or even an Etch-A-Sketch and start depicting. From the Latin depictus, meaning “to portray, paint, sketch, describe,” depict is a way to communicate what you see. To explain to an alien what a banana is, you can either depict it with drawings, describe it in words, or both. But be careful. Writes author Joyce Maynard, "The painter who feels obligated to depict his subjects as uniformly beautiful or handsome and without flaws will fall short of making art."
Vocabulary lists containing depict
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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ACT Vocabulary List
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STAAR English I: The Language of the Test 1
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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:
The stamps depict familiar scenes of Mary and Joseph travelling, baby Jesus, an angel, the shepherds and the Three Wise Men.
From BBC ● Nov. 3, 2026
Yet few scenes in cinema depict the dismal reality of an ill-advised new marriage better than that of Rosy sitting on her new bed and rather despairingly running her gloved hand across its brass frame.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 2, 2026
The three aforementioned scary mommy streaming series go much farther out of their way to depict their respective parents as flawed individuals who do care about their kids.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
RSI readings above 70 are believed to depict overbought conditions, which is a technical term that suggests buyers need some time to digest what they just accomplished.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 27, 2026
This map does not depict it accurately, because these societies were not contemporaries—the Olmec vanished centuries before the Nudzahui and Zapotec began to reach their height, for example.
From "1491" by Charles C. Mann
Villanueva, on the other hand, depicts the department’s Luna era as a sweeping failure that has left morale low, deputy jobs unfilled and criminals unpunished.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
She gets a tattoo and embarks on a fling, and with great tenderness Mr. Drury depicts the fallout from her 30-year itch, as it might be called.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 26, 2026
Piper Sandler’s Johnson also highlighted that the index’s chart depicts that those who bought tech stocks after the Nasdaq’s breakout to the late-September and early-October record highs got duped.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
The new A24 crime thriller depicts the show's host, NBC journalist Chris Hansen, carrying out sting operations on would-be predators.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
It is twice my height and four times my width and depicts an attractive woman with watery gray eyes and spectacles—Jeanine.
From "Divergent" by Veronica Roth
People visit these structures, known as pandals, where Durga is often depicted slaying the buffalo demon Mahishasura.
From BBC ● Oct. 19, 2026
Astronomers have long depicted distant exoplanets with smooth, circular outlines.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 16, 2026
“The Monsters Are Due on Maple Street,” from the first season, depicted the effects of a power outage on an ordinary neighborhood and warned about the minds of mobs and the perils of prejudice.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 15, 2026
Even as Bass embarked on a 22-year political career that has seen stops in Sacramento, Washington and City Hall, the native Angeleno always, successfully depicted herself as a political outsider.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 14, 2026
The motif of a young woman contemplating her beauty goes all the way back to antiquity, but rarely has it been depicted with such disturbing Overtones.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
Huge posters depicting Saint Toribio and Leo XIV adorn the walls of the town hall and the main church, where a piece of the saint's tibia is housed as a relic.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
Among the artifacts recovered from the site is an unusual ceramic vessel depicting a seated Peruvian hairless dog with humanlike features.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026
Mockingbird’s archives are on display at the Goethe-Institut Los Angeles, depicting a raucous era of music and defiance.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026
"You've taken us for fools long enough," read a banner beneath a display depicting BFV officials using a magnet to pull a compass needle towards them.
From BBC ● Oct. 2, 2026
Phonetically interpreted signs were also used to “spell out” longer words, as a series of pictures each depicting the sound of one syllable.
From "Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies" by Jared M. Diamond
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