- present participle of paint.
noun
-
the art or process of applying paints to a surface such as canvas, to make a picture or other artistic composition
-
a composition or picture made in this way
-
the act of applying paint to a surface with a brush
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of painting
Middle English word dating back to 1175–1225; see origin at paint, -ing 1
Explanation
If you want to study painting, go to art school. If that doesn’t work out, maybe you can get a job painting houses. Then you can paint a house purple or paint a picture, which is called a painting. Slapping a coat of paint on your apartment walls is painting, but so is creating a masterpiece like Van Gogh's "Starry Night" or maybe even C.M. Coolidge’s “Dogs Playing Poker.” The picture that results from your painting experiments is also called a painting. The Latin root of painting, pingere, means "to paint," but also "to stain, 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.
Another creature, Polyphemus, the enormous one-eyed Cyclops played by Bill Irwin, benefited from Nolan’s kind of synergy, starting with the famous Goya painting of Saturn eating his children.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 7, 2026
He is to basketball what Van Gogh was to painting, Coltrane to music, Hemingway to literature.
From Los Angeles Times • Jul. 4, 2026
The painting has none of the spirit of the Yale version.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 4, 2026
The name of the painting is “Freedom of Speech.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 3, 2026
You’re drawn to her half-done painting of the stage, surrounded by trees, fireflies dancing through the air and Cherokee syllabary sprinkled throughout.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
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.
