mural

American  

[myoor-uhl] / ˈmjʊər əl /

noun

murals plural

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.

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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 British  

/ ˈmjʊərəl /

noun

1. a large painting or picture on a wall

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adjective

1. of or relating to a wall

mural Cultural  

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

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Discover More

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

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• muralist
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• murals
  plural

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

mural murals

The temple said it is working with investigators and is looking to restore the mural.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 25, 2026

This time, Gonzalez arrived with permission from the county and painted on a detachable fabric in case the mural needs to be removed.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

A candlelight vigil was also held at a newly crafted mural not far from where Salgado Araujo was shot on Canal Street.

From Salon ● Jul. 9, 2026

The city's renowned street artist Nathan Murdoch has painted a mural of the England captain on a barn-type building door just off the A47 between Eye and Thorney.

From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026

“Willa—she’s one of the legendary grandparents—invited me to freshen up the mural this summer. I wanted to do a small-scale one first.”

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

More recently, the anti-citizenship protests were marked by murals and public readings of the Constitution, while the farmers' movement became synonymous with tractor rallies and livestreams from Delhi's borders.

From BBC ● Jul. 22, 2026

And on the opposite bank, giant murals pay tribute to Ukrainian brigades fighting at the front.

From Barron's ● Jun. 30, 2026

The murals, depicting Rastafari icons and Haile Selassie I and Marcus Garvey, were featured in the 2024 biopic “Bob Marley: One Love.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026

The stately foyer, adorned with granite, murals and statuary, would be kept intact and open to all.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026

But fading murals and crying murals were totally different flavors of weird.

From "Shadowshaper" by Daniel José Older

Related Words

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