impressionist
Americannoun
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impressionists
plural
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a person who follows or adheres to the theories, methods, and practices of impressionism, especially in the fields of painting, music, or literature.
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an entertainer who does impressions.
adjective
noun
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(usually capital) any of the French painters of the late 19th century who were exponents of impressionism
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(sometimes capital) any artist, composer, or writer who uses impressionism
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an entertainer who impersonates famous people
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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impressionisticadjective
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nonimpressionisticadjective
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semi-impressionisticadjective
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impressionisticallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of impressionist
From the French word impressionniste, dating back to 1875–80. See impression, -ist
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.
See Examples For:
Bryan Masson, the mayor of the southern town of Cagnes-sur-Mer, said the duo appeared "well equipped and well informed" about the museum housing works by French impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir.
From Barron's ● Sep. 8, 2026
Michelle Burt, an expressive impressionist artist based in Laguna Beach, stands in her booth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 4, 2025
He spent the better part of a decade in the impressionist and modern-art department before moving to work under Tobias Meyer, then Sotheby’s worldwide head of contemporary art and principal auctioneer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 22, 2025
It’s packed with ideas from all over the American songbook — Aaron Copland and western folk, run through with Wilson’s own cracked impressionist view of life on the rails.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 11, 2025
From the employee side of the window, the outside world looked fluid, all the people on the other side wavy, like an impressionist watercolor.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Marvel star Stan avoids portraying Trump as a caricature villain in the film, or in the exaggerated, comedic way Trump is often presented by impressionists.
From BBC ● Oct. 15, 2024
The fluid brushstrokes made Hals a major influence of later artists like Vincent van Gogh and impressionists like Édouard Manet.
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 13, 2024
Back in the ’70s, impressionists used to do Nixon, and they were probably more accurate.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 11, 2023
“All the impressionists even had classes with each other.”
From New York Times ● Apr. 22, 2023
Here are, then, the two true American impressionists, who, as far as I am aware, never slipped into the banalities of reiteration and marketable self-copy.
From Adventures in the Arts Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets by Marsden Hartley
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.
