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:
She said that as she stopped to take a photograph, her fiance went up a side street but by the time she had followed him he had disappeared.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 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
Searches for “Dario Amodei’s wife” on Google often turn up a photograph of his sister, Daniela Amodei, who helps run the company.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
She’d sent him a photograph of us and he’d written back “incredible.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
In one photograph, on a balcony above the stands, a young man with a black mustache and wearing a top hat gazes down on the president.
From "Chasing Lincoln's Killer" by James L. Swanson
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
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
The photographs were almost absurdly theatrical: silver serving pieces and candelabras, the gilt-and-cream grandeur of the White House, and, arrayed beneath it all, mountains of branded fast-food packaging.
From Salon ● Aug. 12, 2026
It is embroidered with butterflies and comes with signed photographs and a dedication by Bardot.
From BBC ● Aug. 6, 2026
He lives in Hampden town, and has published a book of photographs of the college through the years, which has made him much sought-after as an after-dinner speaker at the various clubs in town.
From "The Secret History" by Donna Tartt
The pair have been photographed yachting in St. Tropez, holding hands in London and attending the premiere of the “Legally Blonde” prequel “Elle.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 8, 2026
“He photographed Mexican Americans in the 1980s in New Mexico, and that gave us many ideas,” he says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026
This followed interviews in which Jenner had spoken about her struggles with constantly being photographed in public.
From Slate ● Aug. 5, 2026
In summer 2021 the acting pair were were photographed embracing in Los Angeles, driving fans wild online.
From BBC ● Jul. 30, 2026
The trouble was that most patients refused to be photographed, and hospitals were afraid of law suits.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
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
I’ve been photographing Pillarhenge for more than eight years, largely on black-and-white film.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 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
The bodyguard activated a compact digital camera and began photographing each wafer-thin page of the Book.
From "Artemis Fowl" by Eoin Colfer
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.
