photograph
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
-
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
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.
It was the first and last time Copi ever spoke to Davis, but he would go on to photograph him eight times in total.
From Los Angeles Times • May 19, 2026
The Tennis Cabinet as a whole met only once, toward the end of Roosevelt’s administration; a photograph taken on the South Lawn is the only official record of its existence.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 13, 2026
Within hours, the photograph was printed on the front page of the South Wales Echo, and soon after appeared in newspapers around the world.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
The Woodland Trust is concerned people on the hunt for the perfect photograph in south-west England may walk into copses of bluebells, standing on the plants in the process.
From BBC • May 10, 2026
I put the photograph back on the shelf and go over to join her.
From "Code Name Kingfisher" by Liz Kessler
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.
