mural
Americannoun
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murals
plural
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a large picture painted or affixed directly on a wall or ceiling.
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a greatly enlarged photograph attached directly to a wall.
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a wallpaper pattern representing a landscape or the like, often with very widely spaced repeats so as to produce the effect of a mural painting on a wall of average size; a trompe l'oeil.
adjective
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of, relating to, or resembling a wall.
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executed on or affixed to a wall.
mural inscriptions.
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pertaining to any of several astronomical instruments that were affixed to a wall aligned on the plane of a meridian, and were formerly used to measure the altitude of celestial bodies.
a mural quadrant; a mural circle.
noun
adjective
Discover More
The Mexican artist Diego Rivera was noted for his production of murals.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of mural
1400–50; late Middle English < Latin mūrālis, equivalent to mūr ( us ) wall + -ālis -al 1
Explanation
A mural is a large-scale painting usually done on a wall. Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist, is famous for the plaster murals he painted on the walls at Rockefeller Center in the 1930s. Famous murals include the wall designs in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican in Rome, and the Coit Tower murals in San Francisco. Many murals were created during the Renaissance, and again during the New Deal. They are also common features of urban settings — painted on the outsides of buildings and on playground walls.
Vocabulary lists containing mural
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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.
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The first mural in Anthony Pittman’s “Los Angelitos” project, outside Patria Coffee Roasters, is a twist on an early painting of California from 1832.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 13, 2026
The Diego Rivera mural, that one was really amazing — and just the history here, having it be in L.A.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 23, 2026
In the southern port city of Ashdod, the artist behind the mural of Abraham and Szor unleashed a torrent of insults at the filmmakers, who are currently abroad.
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
On a street in southern Israel, a graffiti artist paints a mural depicting the filmmakers behind the award-winning documentary "NAZA".
From Barron's ● Sep. 17, 2026
Lucy showed Maggie the mural she was going to restore.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
What he found during his excavations—8,000-year-old murals, statuettes of fertility goddesses and as many as 480 skeletons—revolutionized our understanding of early human settlements, demonstrating that Anatolia was at the center of the Neolithic Revolution.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Living alone in Los Angeles for the first time, Jordan had visions of eclectic murals to match her vintage furniture and art collection.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
Famed for its Chicano murals, Estrada Courts is one of Rosales’ muses; her photos of it appear in “East of the River.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
In Nanjie, countless murals of the former Chinese leader are plastered around the village.
From Barron's ● Sep. 6, 2026
He found the Chinese Palm Court, complete with not only live palm trees but high white-plastered rococo ceilings, marble columns, delicate hand-painted Asian wall murals, and Chippendale furniture.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
