paintbrush

American  

[peynt-bruhsh] / ˈpeɪntˌbrʌʃ /

noun

• paintbrushes
  plural

1. a brush for applying paint, as one used in painting houses or one used in painting pictures.

2. any plant of the genus Castilleja.

---

paintbrush British  

/ ˈpeɪntˌbrʌʃ /

noun

1. a brush used to apply paint

---

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• paintbrushes
  plural

Etymology

Origin of paintbrush

First recorded in 1820–30; paint + brush ¹

Explanation

The long-handled tool with bristles that artists use for dabbing color onto canvas is a paintbrush. If you want to tint your walls in shades of pink, you'll also need a paintbrush. Although some painters have famously splattered, dripped, rolled, and otherwise creatively applied paint to a canvas, the vast majority of them use paintbrushes. The type of paintbrush a housepainter uses has a shorter handle and wider bristles, but its purpose is the same: to smoothly and precisely apply paint to a surface. Whether your medium is watercolors, oil paints, or deck stain, your paintbrush will have soft bristles and a wooden or plastic handle.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

paintbrush paintbrushes

Left alone, tradition gets sillier and more alive whether it involves a god, a robot, or a scallion masquerading as a paintbrush.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 1, 2026

Upstairs, Fahmy created a black-and-white mural inspired by Keith Haring at the top of the stairs, then kept going along the second-floor walls using a paintbrush taped to a broomstick.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 21, 2026

Now, he experimented with animal concepts of aesthetics, giving a paintbrush to a chimp called Congo.

From BBC ● Apr. 20, 2026

During his time in jail, Tejero also swapped his pistol for a paintbrush, taking up art classes that saw him produce nearly 300 artworks, El Pais newspaper reported.

From Barron's ● Feb. 25, 2026

She swished the paintbrush around, watching the brown sludge swirl, revealing wisps of green.

From "George" by Alex Gino

At this point, you’ll mostly lose the ocean view but be greeted by a diversity of local plants, including wildflowers like spreading phlox, and varieties of poppies, lupines and paintbrushes.

From Los Angeles Times ● May 13, 2025

That’s in no more than half an hour of walking around, without trowels and paintbrushes.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 30, 2023

At this former office building-turned-art-and-event space, repurposed conference rooms — projector screens still on the walls — have been transformed into artists’ studios featuring easels and paintbrushes.

From Seattle Times ● Jun. 9, 2023

His body was wrapped in a hessian cotton blanket with rope wrapped in a cross pattern with paintbrushes, flowers and a poem in the grave.

From BBC ● Oct. 6, 2022

“Besides, my daughters have no interest in art. I never got to teach them anything about paintbrushes or oils. This will be fun for me.”

From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman