depicted
Americanadjective
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represented by or as if by painting or other visual image; portrayed.
The viewer of this striking painting is lured into the possible narrative of the depicted figure by her beauty, strength, and grace.
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represented or characterized in words.
Subtle cues in the text indicate the tone or stance the author is taking towards the depicted events.
verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of depicted
Explanation
If your brother is depicted as a couch potato in your autobiographical novel, it means that you described him in a certain way, so that he came across as a lazy TV watcher. The adjective depicted means "shown or represented." A person or thing can be depicted in a particular way through a description, a drawing, a photograph, or any other artistic medium. Whenever a vivid picture of something — like life in Victorian England — is presented, that thing is being depicted. The Latin root depictus comes from the prefix de, meaning "down," and pingere, "to paint," and it means "to portray, paint, sketch or imagine."
Vocabulary lists containing depicted
Unit 4: Powerful Openings
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Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
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The Last Beekeeper
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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.
One ad named “Find Your Waymoment,” which aired earlier this year in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix, depicted a performance artist enjoying the peace and quiet of a driverless car after an intense performance.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 11, 2026
One of the videos he shared depicted him playing soccer with Cristiano Ronaldo in the Oval Office.
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026
Another depicted an enlarged image of Trump towering over Greenland beneath the words "Hello, Greenland!"
From Barron's • Jun. 8, 2026
AI-generated videos depicted McKinney as a stoic, suit-clad crime fighter walking through a dystopian version of L.A.’s Metro system.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 5, 2026
I don’t mean to say that the Negro boy I depicted in Native Son is either a Communist or a Fascist.
From "Native Son" by Richard Wright
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.
