painted
Americanadjective
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reproduced or represented in paint.
a painted image.
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covered with a coating of paint.
a painted chair.
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unreal; artificial; feigned.
a painted life.
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exaggerated or misrepresented.
a luridly painted version of what really happened.
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covered with makeup, especially to excess.
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brightly colored or multicolored (used in combinations).
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of painted
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at paint, -ed 2
Explanation
Anything that's painted is either covered or decorated with paint. Brightly painted walls can cheer up a room that would otherwise be dark and dull. Your colorfully painted kitchen chairs are coated with different shades of paint, and your painted fingernails might be dabbed with shiny silver nail polish. Several types of animals are also painted because they have bright or varied stripes of color on their bodies — like painted turtles' colorful shells and painted storks' bright feathers. Painted comes from paint and its Latin root, pingere, "to paint, embroider, or tattoo."
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.
But many Serbs continued to revere a military commander who painted himself as a "simple man" whom fate had chosen to protect his people.
From Barron's ● Aug. 27, 2026
Among her works was a room painted yellow and covered in black dots; she wore an outfit to match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
One of his most famous works is Camel of Hardship, painted in 1973.
From BBC ● Aug. 26, 2026
Some locals said the first big sign came when they woke several weeks ago to white “X”s painted on the road.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026
Finally, I came to a little cottage with flowers blossoming along the hedge and a stone path that led to a door painted bright red.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
