picture
- a visual representation of a person, object, or scene, as a painting, drawing, photograph, etc.: I carry a picture of my grandchild in my wallet.
- any visible image, however produced: pictures reflected in a pool of water.
- a mental image: a clear picture of how he had looked that day.
- a particular image or reality as portrayed in an account or description; depiction; version.
- a tableau, as in theatrical representation.
- motion picture.
- pictures, Informal: Older Use. movies.
- a person, thing, group, or scene regarded as resembling a work of pictorial art in beauty, fineness of appearance, etc.: She was a picture in her new blue dress.
- the image or perfect likeness of someone else: He is the picture of his father.
- a visible or concrete embodiment of some quality or condition: the picture of health.
- a situation or set of circumstances: the economic picture.
- the image on a computer monitor, the viewing screen of a television set, or a motion-picture screen.
- to represent in a picture or pictorially, as by painting or drawing.
- to form a mental picture of; imagine: He couldn't picture himself doing such a thing.
- to depict in words; describe graphically: He pictured Rome so vividly that you half-believed you were there.
- to present or create as a setting; portray: His book pictured the world of the future.
Origin of picture
Synonyms
See more synonyms for picture on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for pictures
Contemporary Examples
Lee and Coogan did briefly meet with the pope, with pictures to prove it, but no one at the Vatican officially screened the film.
Pope Francis Has the Pleasure of Meeting Angelina Jolie for a Few SecondsBarbie Latza Nadeau
January 8, 2015
Afterward, the graduates posed for pictures with their families.
The pictures which would melt even the hardest of Republcian hearts were taken at the end of November.
The pictures of Gilkes emphasize, quite rightly and inevitably, his classic good looks.
William, Kate, and Jay Z’s Favorite Art Star: Alexander Gilkes' World of Rock Stars and RoyaltyTim Teeman
December 10, 2014
When she got the pictures back, she met Sean for coffee and discussed how to exhibit the photos.
Masters of Alt Sex: SuicideGirls Hits Puberty and Wants to Invade Your TV SetMarlow Stern
December 9, 2014
Historical Examples
Pictures also are occasionally exhibited for his instruction.
At last we got through all the rooms and all the pictures, and came out into the gardens.
To be Read at DuskCharles Dickens
So I got my first idea of what a book contained by the pictures in a spelling-book.
Biography of a SlaveCharles Thompson
Mulready's illustrations of 1843 are here referred to, net his pictures.
De Libris: Prose and VerseAustin Dobson
Now, what advantage could the world expect from Benjamin's pictures?
Biographical StoriesNathaniel Hawthorne
picture
- a visual representation of something, such as a person or scene, produced on a surface, as in a photograph, painting, etc
- (as modifier)picture gallery; picture postcard Related adjective: pictorial
- a mental image or impressiona clear picture of events
- a verbal description, esp one that is vivid
- a situation considered as an observable scenethe political picture
- a person or thing that bears a close resemblance to anotherhe was the picture of his father
- a person, scene, etc, considered as typifying a particular state or qualitythe picture of despair
- a beautiful person or sceneyou'll look a picture
- a complete image on a television screen, comprising two interlaced fields
- a motion picture; film
- (as modifier)picture theatre
- the pictures mainly British and Australian a cinema or film show
- another name for tableau vivant
- get the picture informal to understand a situation
- in the picture informed about a given situation
- to visualize or imagine
- to describe or depict, esp vividly
- (often passive) to put in a picture or make a picture ofthey were pictured sitting on the rocks
Word Origin
Word Origin and History for pictures
n.
"movies," 1912, short for moving pictures.
picture
n.
early 15c., "drawing, painting," from Latin pictura "painting," from pictus, past participle of pingere "to make pictures, to paint, to embroider," (see paint (v.)). Picture window is from 1938. Picture post-card first recorded 1899. Phrase every picture tells a story first attested 1900, in advertisements for an illustrated life of Christ. To be in (or out of) the picture in the figurative sense dates to 1900.
Expression a picture is worth a thousand words, attested from 1918, probably was from the publication trade (the notion that a picture was worth 1,000 words is in printers' publications by 1911). The phrase also was in use in the form worth a million words, the form used by American newspaper editor Arthur Brisbane (1864-1936) in an editorial much-read c.1916 titled "What is a Good Newspaper" in the "New York Evening Journal." In part it read, "After news and humor come good pictures. In this day of hurry we learn through the eye, and one picture may be worth a million words." It seems to have emerged into general use via the medium of advertising (which scaled down the number and also gave the expression its spurious origin story as "a Japanese proverb" or some such thing, by 1919). Earlier various acts or deeds (and in one case "the arrow") were said to be worth a thousand words.
picture
v.
late 15c. in the literal sense; 1738 in the mental sense, from picture (n.). Related: Pictured; picturing.
Idioms and Phrases with pictures
picture
In addition to the idiom beginning with picture
- picture is worth a thousand words, one
also see:
- get the message (picture)
- in the picture
- pretty as a picture
- take a picture
- the picture