mural

[myoor-uhl]

noun

1. a large picture painted or affixed directly on a wall or ceiling.

2. a greatly enlarged photograph attached directly to a wall.

3. 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

1. of, relating to, or resembling a wall.

2. executed on or affixed to a wall.

   mural inscriptions.

3. 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.

mural

/ ˈmjʊərəl /

noun

1. a large painting or picture on a wall

adjective

1. of or relating to a wall

mural

1. A painting, usually large, made directly on a wall.

The Mexican artist Diego Rivera was noted for his production of murals.

Other Word Forms

• muralist noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mural¹

1400–50; late Middle English < Latin mūrālis, equivalent to mūr ( us ) wall + -ālis -al ¹

Word History and Origins

Origin of mural¹

C15: from Latin mūrālis, from mūrus wall

Example Sentences

At the post office, we checked out the 1938 Fletcher Martin mural of mail delivery.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

From obsessive city-wide tagging in every impossible nook and cranny and world famous Banksy pieces to bold and colourful community murals, Bristol's street art has since become world renowned.

Read more on BBC

The other SpikeWorld remains the blocks of Bed-Stuy forever associated with Lee: in murals of the cast, or in the street signs that have announced the block as Do the Right Thing Way since 2015.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

To do so, it must reach beyond the liberal stronghold of Budapest and flip smaller towns like Oroszlány, where concrete housing blocks are still emblazoned with Communist-era murals.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Disgruntled merchants have blocked off the famous Maradona Square in Naples, preventing tourists and visitors from glimpsing the gigantic mural of the Argentine footballer, in a row over bureaucracy.

Read more on Barron's

Related Words

• art 
• canvas 
• composition 
• depiction 
• landscape 
• oil painting 
• picture 
• portrait 
• sketch