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.
a movie: He signed a three-picture deal to star in the new franchise.
pictures, Older Use. movies collectively, as an art; cinema: So, you want to be in pictures?
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
1Other words for picture
Other words from picture
- pic·tur·a·ble, adjective
- pic·tur·a·ble·ness, noun
- pic·tur·a·bly, adverb
- pic·tur·er, noun
- mis·pic·ture, verb (used with object), mis·pic·tured, mis·pic·tur·ing.
- self-pic·tured, adjective
- un·pic·tured, adjective
Words that may be confused with picture
- picture , pitcher
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
How to use picture in a sentence
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 Seconds | Barbie Latza Nadeau | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEAST“The cyber attack against Sony Pictures Entertainment was not just an attack against a company and its employees,” he said.
Politicians Only Love Journalists When They're Dead | Luke O’Neil | January 8, 2015 | THE DAILY BEASTMGM and Columbia are both subsidiaries of Sony Pictures Entertainment.
Propaganda, Protest, and Poisonous Vipers: The Cinema War in Korea | Rich Goldstein | December 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEASTAfterward, the graduates posed for pictures with their families.
Even Sony Pictures Classics, who distributed the Before trilogy?
Coffee Talk with Ethan Hawke: On ‘Boyhood,’ Jennifer Lawrence, and Bill Clinton’s Urinal Exchange | Marlow Stern | December 27, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
"The Smoker," and "Mother and Daughter," a triptych, are two of her principal pictures.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. | Clara Erskine ClementWas a pupil of Caspar Netscher of Heidelberg, whose little pictures are of fabulous value.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. | Clara Erskine ClementIt is well known that Prud'hon and his pupil painted many pictures in collaboration.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. | Clara Erskine ClementThe pictures of flowers which this artist paints prove her to be a devoted lover of nature.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D. | Clara Erskine ClementThose four pictures—I would not sell those four Watteaus for one hundred thousand francs.
Checkmate | Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu
British Dictionary definitions for picture
/ (ˈpɪktʃə) /
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 impression: a clear picture of events
a verbal description, esp one that is vivid
a situation considered as an observable scene: the political picture
a person or thing that bears a close resemblance to another: he was the picture of his father
a person, scene, etc, considered as typifying a particular state or quality: the picture of despair
a beautiful person or scene: you'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 of: they were pictured sitting on the rocks
Origin of picture
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Other Idioms and Phrases with 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
The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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