depiction

American  

[dih-pik-shuhn] / dɪˈpɪk ʃən /

noun

• depictions
  plural

1. representation in image form, as in a painting or illustration.

   Picasso's painting Guernica is an accurate depiction of the horrors of war.

2. representation or characterization in words.

   Mark Twain's letters are a clear depiction of his life and times.

3. an act or instance of depicting.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• depictions
  plural

Etymology

Origin of depiction

First recorded in 1625–35; from Latin dēpictiōn-, stem of dēpictiō “portrayal,” equivalent to dēpict(us), past participle of dēpingere “to portray” + -iō -ion ( def. )

Explanation

A depiction is a true representation of something, like the depiction of life as a Jewish teenager in hiding during World War II in Anne Frank's "The Diary of a Young Girl." The word depiction comes from the Latin word for "painting or description," depictionem. If a portrait really looks like you, it's a good depiction — the painter or photographer has done a great job. Another way to give a depiction of an experience is to tell or write about it in so much detail that it's like your audience is really there. Actors who portray real people work hard to make their depictions as true as they can.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

depiction depictions

And he took a close look at Arthur Miller’s version of “Enemy,” but he rejected the depiction of Stockmann’s character as the heroic whistleblower who stands alone with the truth.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 26, 2026

This is evident in the depiction of Kip, a Sikh man finding his way in the English world of colonialism.

From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026

Prosecutors allege that Matar was motivated by a fatwa that Ayatollah Khomeini, then leader of Iran, issued in 1989 following Rushdie's depiction of a fictionalized Prophet Muhammad in his novel "The Satanic Verses."

From Barron's ● Jul. 23, 2026

As Selim, the visiting Turk who catches Fiorilla’s eye, bass Vincent Graña had pitch and rhythm issues, and the grating timbre of Kresley Figueroa’s big, agile soprano undercut her depiction of Fiorilla.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026

I didn’t see Margie in attendance, but she later told me that when she first saw the ballet’s depiction of the Reign of Terror, “it hit me in the stomach.”

From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann

Curated by Hever’s Alison Palmer, Owen Emmerson and Kate McCaffrey, this extraordinary exhibition augments Hever’s “Rose Portrait” of Anne with personal objects and 37 other depictions, including 14 oil portraits on loan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026

Mainstream culture’s relatively lower esteem for the Green Lantern is absolutely related to cartoonish interpretations of his power in live-action depictions.

From Salon ● Aug. 16, 2026

Posters for the new The Mummy film have been banned from the London Underground and other billboards after regulators said they included realistic depictions of a dead child.

From BBC ● Aug. 5, 2026

Zurbarán’s work, by contrast—including his depictions of the figures of Christ and saints—is defined by an absolute stillness.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026

Maybe I had bought into the Western depictions of what it meant to fall in love.

From "Americanized" by Sara Saedi

Related Words

• drawing
• illustration
• image
• likeness
• picture
• portrayal
• representation
• sketch