noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of paintbrush
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
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:
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
It’s one thing to conceive of such a project and another altogether to make it happen — so much technology, compared to, say, mixing paints and choosing a paintbrush.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 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
But she has a lot of work to do before she can safely dig out the paintbrush.
From BBC ● Apr. 3, 2025
The field after that was the color paintbrush water goes.
From "Black Swan Green" by David Mitchell
The men took different roles as Ukrainian civilians donned camouflage to join the fight: Leontyev became a weapons instructor and Stefanov swapped his paintbrushes for a camera.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 6, 2025
His answer could be seen Friday, when students from The Bush School and Seattle Academy gathered at the site, paintbrushes in hand.
From Seattle Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
That’s in no more than half an hour of walking around, without trowels and paintbrushes.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 30, 2023
Yet many Hospital Rooms projects require paintbrushes, power tools and other potentially dangerous objects.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2022
In addition to the sweater, she buys him three sable-haired paintbrushes from the Harvard Coop, sizes he’s requested by mail.
From "The Namesake" by Jhumpa Lahiri
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