illustration
Americannoun
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something that illustrates, as a picture in a book or magazine.
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a comparison or an example intended for explanation or corroboration.
- Synonyms:
- explication
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the act or process of illuminating.
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the act of clarifying or explaining; elucidation.
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Archaic. illustriousness; distinction.
noun
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pictorial matter used to explain or decorate a text
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an example or demonstration
an illustration of his ability
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the act of illustrating or the state of being illustrated
Related Words
See case 1.
Other Word Forms
- illustrational adjective
- nonillustration noun
- overillustration noun
- preillustration noun
- reillustration noun
- superillustration noun
Etymology
Origin of illustration
First recorded in 1325–75; Middle English, from Latin illustrātiōn- (stem of illustrātiō ) “the act of making vivid, illustrating”; illustrate, -ion
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.
Long existing beyond the boundaries of race, nationhood and categorical art movements, Lam produced a range of work, including graphic design, book illustrations, large Jackson Pollock-inspired abstractions, and expressionistic ceramics.
As depicted in a finely detailed illustration by Mr. Thompson, long eaves hang over the house’s facade.
Later, he reads her notebook, filled with verse and vivid illustrations.
The Ranch doesn’t have books like this, or the kind I remember from when I went to school, with their bright colors and pages full of illustrations and cartoon-like pictures.
From Literature
The exhibition includes examples of his illustrations for the journal Oxford Left, as well as some amusing caricatures of his aristocratic classmates.
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.
