diptych
Americannoun
-
a hinged two-leaved tablet used in ancient times for writing on with a stylus.
-
Usually diptychs.
-
a similar tablet of wood or metal containing on one leaf the names of those among the living, and on the other those among the dead, for whom prayers and Masses are said.
-
the lists of such persons.
-
the intercession in the course of which these names were introduced.
-
-
a pair of pictures or carvings on two panels, usually hinged together.
noun
-
a pair of hinged wooden tablets with waxed surfaces for writing
-
a painting or carving on two panels, usually hinged like a book
Etymology
Origin of diptych
1615–25; < Late Latin diptycha writing tablet with two leaves < Greek díptycha, neuter plural of díptychos folded together, equivalent to di- di- 1 + -ptychos, verbid of ptýssein to fold
Vocabulary lists containing diptych
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.
The play, a diptych, has a second act in which the same actors play the roles of the parents of their first-act characters.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 8, 2025
Director Mike Reilly does a lucid job of sorting out the play’s diptych structure.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 16, 2024
Annie Leist, a museum staffer and an artist and photographer herself, took a group to a brightly colored abstract diptych called “Wind and Water,” painted in 1975 by Suzanne Jackson.
From New York Times • Apr. 25, 2023
For Kathy Westwater’s new diptych of dances, “Revolver” and “Choreomaniacs,” the interior of the Chocolate Factory Theater has been sheathed in layers of translucent plastic, floor to ceiling.
From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2023
The earliest diptych, however, is of the year 406, known as the Diptych of Probus, on which may be seen a bas-relief portrait of Emperor Honorius.
From Arts and Crafts in the Middle Ages A Description of Mediaeval Workmanship in Several of the Departments of Applied Art, Together with Some Account of Special Artisans in the Early Renaissance by Addison, Julia de Wolf Gibbs
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.
