photograph
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
verb (used without object)
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to practice photography.
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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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unphotographedadjective
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well-photographedadjective
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photographableadjective
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rephotographverb (used with object)
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unphotographableadjective
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have photographedperfect
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has photographedperfect 3rd person singular
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has been photographingperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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is photographingprogressive 3rd person singular
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am photographingprogressive 1st person singular
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are photographingprogressive
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have been photographingperfect progressive
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photographingparticiple
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photographssingular 3rd person
Past
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had photographedperfect
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were photographingprogressive plural
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photographedsimple
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was photographingprogressive singular
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had been photographingperfect progressive
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photographedparticiple
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.
Angelica Lourdes Mero Arcentales, 48, holds a childhood photograph of her son, Bryan Alfredo Arcentales Mero, who was 26 when he went missing aboard the Fiorella.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2026
Patni commemorated Akash with a framed photograph and a life-size cutout, decorated with flowers and surrounded by scattered rose petals and lit lamps.
From Barron's • Jun. 12, 2026
The photograph shows him in the Oval Office, holding a giant replica of a World Cup final ticket—Row 1, Seat 1—Gianni Infantino beaming at his elbow.
From Slate • Jun. 11, 2026
The Scot was 20 years old when he captured an iconic photograph of Diego Maradona holding the World Cup trophy on the pitch at the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
From BBC • Jun. 5, 2026
This photograph from September 1862 was taken by Alexander Gardner, who worked for Mathew Brady in documenting the Civil War.
From "American Spirits" by Barb Rosenstock
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.
