diptych
Americannoun
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a hinged two-leaved tablet used in ancient times for writing on with a stylus.
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Usually diptychs.
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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.
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the lists of such persons.
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the intercession in the course of which these names were introduced.
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a pair of pictures or carvings on two panels, usually hinged together.
noun
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a pair of hinged wooden tablets with waxed surfaces for writing
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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.
In a room at the French consul general’s, a diptych of palms as long-legged as Paris runway models.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 20, 2025
Director Mike Reilly does a lucid job of sorting out the play’s diptych structure.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 16, 2024
“I didn’t want to outstay my welcome,” he said on a recent video call, from the study of his home in Portland, Ore., a black-and-white diptych of the playwright Samuel Beckett behind him.
From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2023
But “Burbank,” the second half of a diptych that started with “The Fairest” — Bossert’s 2021 play about the women of Disney’s ink and paint department — is primarily focused on Walt and Art.
From New York Times • Sep. 9, 2022
The beautiful diptych in the Bargello, representing Adam in the Earthly Paradise, may easily have been originally intended for Orpheus, especially since Eve is absent!
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.
