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
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rephotographverb (used with object)
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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:
A photograph taken only 10 seconds too early or too late would place the target about 10 miles away from the center of the image.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
Some threw flowers onto the hearse carrying her coffin, which was draped in the Welsh flag and accompanied by a framed photograph of the singer.
From Barron's ● Aug. 15, 2026
Tensions have risen in communities across the country over the use of the cameras, which photograph the back of passing vehicles and collect license-plate data and other identifying information.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Rarely do we stop to admire vultures through binoculars or photograph in awe.
From BBC ● Aug. 12, 2026
The image of her was beginning to grow fuzzy, like a fading photograph, but he could never forget her eyes or smile, because they were the same as his.
From "The Way to Rio Luna" by Zoraida Cordova
The LRO team then compared the new images with photographs taken before the impact.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 20, 2026
The magazine also featured photographs of Macron engaging in water sports such as foil surfing, during a summer marked by successive heatwaves and deadly fires in France.
From Barron's ● Aug. 14, 2026
He opens a folder and takes out a stack of large photographs: portraits of prisoners.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Inside, the walls are still covered with his guitars, posters, photographs and other relics from his favorite artists: Aerosmith, Rush, Bowie, Jane’s Addiction and Soundgarden.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 13, 2026
Pua has made a collage out of photographs of Seattle and Honolulu.
From "Clairboyance" by Kristiana Kahakauwila
To better understand how the bodies were placed and how the burial chamber evolved, the researchers excavated the space, photographed the mummies, and created detailed sketches and descriptions.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 19, 2026
Luckily, the first volume got a boost when Jacob Elordi was photographed reading it during a marathon Frankenstein makeup session.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 19, 2026
London's deer population is much-loved and photographed, due to their apparent juxtaposition with city-life.
From BBC ● Aug. 18, 2026
This followed interviews in which Jenner had spoken about her struggles with constantly being photographed in public.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
They photographed the paintings at their leisure and returned them at their leisure.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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
To prove authenticity, members have resorted to writing numbers directly onto pint glasses or photographing clusters of empty bottles.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
According to investigators, the thieves went to the libraries to consult rare and valuable works, photographing and measuring them, and returned later to replace them with virtually undetectable copies.
From Barron's ● Jun. 9, 2026
Van Tassel was in the park photographing a group of long-eared owls perched in the trees above Tamarisk Grove on a recent weekday morning.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 17, 2026
In 1911, photography was still a new technology, but it was improving rapidly, and the Louvre was photographing its entire collection.
From "The Mona Lisa Vanishes" by Nicholas Day
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.
