photograph
Americannoun
-
photographs
plural
verb (used with object)
-
photographs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
photographed,
past participle, past
-
photographing
present participle
verb (used without object)
-
photographs,
present (3rd person singular)
-
photographed,
past participle, past
-
photographing
present participle
-
to practice photography.
-
to be photographed or be suitable for being photographed in some specified way.
The children photograph well.
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
-
rephotographverb (used with object)
-
photographableadjective
-
unphotographableadjective
-
unphotographedadjective
-
well-photographedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
photographsimple
-
photographssimple
-
have photographedperfect
-
has photographedperfect
-
am photographingprogressive
-
are photographingprogressive
-
is photographingprogressive
-
have been photographingperfect progressive
-
has been photographingperfect progressive
Past
-
photographedsimple
-
had photographedperfect
-
was photographingprogressive
-
were photographingprogressive
-
had been photographingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of photograph
Explanation
When you take a picture with a camera, the result is a photograph, a picture of your subject created by a special medium’s exposure to light. The first photographs were created on metal plates coated with a special chemical. Although photography as we know it did not emerge until the 19th century, the word photograph evolved from the ancient Greek words phot-, "light," and graph-, "writing," which were combined to create the word for taking pictures — "light writing." Nowadays we take our photographs with electronic cameras, recording, transferring, and storing the pictures digitally. Times change, and while many people still enjoy using film cameras, they are becoming increasingly rare, and certain types of films are no longer produced.
Vocabulary lists containing photograph
Write On!: Graph and Gram
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Introduction to Informational Text
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Cormac McCarthy's "The Road"
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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:
There are parts of the island you’re not allowed to photograph, “secure zones” consisting of dilapidated military buildings topped with ragged, sun-bleached Albanian flags.
From Slate ● Sep. 8, 2026
Ernetti produced an image he believed was akin to the Christ he witnessed, which was soon debunked as a close-up photograph of a wooden sculpture.
From Salon ● Sep. 7, 2026
She said the impact often began before a photograph has been taken.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Today, mainstream news organizations typically do not name accusers in sexual assault cases, much less photograph them in court.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
Coal thought about the messages he’d found that morning, starting with the photograph of his mother and Doc.
From "Boy 2.0" by Tracey Baptiste
She says, “The photographs that I took, the nightscapes, were intentional. I don’t treat them as documenting.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 9, 2026
It also houses around 40 sculptures as well as photographs that belonged to his family.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
They encounter what happened through photographs, documentaries, memorials, classroom lessons and stories told by people who were alive on that day.
From Salon ● Sep. 8, 2026
The dog team individually lists each animal on the company website as an official "sniffer", alongside their photographs.
From Barron's ● Sep. 7, 2026
But after photographs of the 1919 total eclipse showed that light bent as it passed the sun, the facts proved without a doubt that Einstein was right!
From "Sir Fig Newton and the Science of Persistence" by Sonja Thomas
On Tuesday, Prince Harry was photographed signing a wall at a film studio in London, his first appearance since his return.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 8, 2026
The bird was photographed flying over Loch Spelve, a sea loch on the south-east coast of Mull.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
The locations, especially as photographed here by cinematographer Leo Zhang, make for a crafty way of classing up a low-budget feature.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Five days after Lopez was arrested, Parchman photographed fresh graffiti on a wall near where Moore was killed.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 1, 2026
They photographed her with their mother’s flash camera, which seemed to upset her more than the dress did.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
The pro skateboarder and photographer shares three photos from his archive and reflects on decades of photographing youth culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026
Not surprisingly, he is plucked for a covert mission that involves photographing secret Soviet bases from a tricked-out stealth jet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2026
And they chuck it together and it looks pretty if you’re photographing it and it tastes like God knows what.
From Slate ● Aug. 15, 2026
People should also be careful when photographing the eclipse as the Sun can damage the camera on a phone the same way as it can damage the eyes.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Other deputies stood by the church door, photographing people as they came in.
From "Because They Marched" by Russell Freedman
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.
