gestural
Americanadjective
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relating to, expressed in, using, or made up of gestures, especially of the hands and arms, head, or upper body.
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(of an act) merely symbolic or done for effect; being merely a token or formality.
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Art. relating to a painting style that emphasizes the physical movement of the artist, characterized by sweeping, energetic brush strokes or by smearing, splashing, etc., rather than small, careful strokes.
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.
Beauford Delaney’s 1964 gestural abstraction—a style he embraced only after moving to Paris in his 50s—is a swirling yet soothing congregation of ecru, dusty yellow and pale pink.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
There were movement consultants for a few gestural beats in other renditions, but having choreographers from day one of this process has been incredible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 17, 2025
We understood each other perfectly - with a gestural language that obviously predates human speech.”
From BBC ● Nov. 16, 2024
"Similarly, when birds perch on branches, their wings become free, which we think may facilitate the development of gestural communication."
From Salon ● Apr. 2, 2024
The entire artistic effort to transcend the figurative and the narrative, to explore the abstract and the gestural, to explore its own reality, and to establish new languages testifies to this striving towards emancipation.
From The Civilization of Illiteracy by Mihai Nadin
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.
