portrait
Americannoun
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a likeness of a person, especially of the face, as a painting, drawing, or photograph.
a gallery of family portraits.
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a verbal picture or description, usually of a person.
a biography that provides a fascinating portrait of an 18th-century rogue.
adjective
noun
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a painting, drawing, sculpture, photograph, or other likeness of an individual, esp of the face
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( as modifier )
a portrait gallery
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a verbal description or picture, esp of a person's character
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of portrait
1560–70; < Middle French: a drawing, image, etc., noun use of past participle of portraire to portray
Explanation
A portrait is a portrayal of a person, usually showing the person's face (but not always). A portrait can be a painting, a photograph, an ink drawing, a sculpture — or even a description in words or in a film. Portrait is a term often used when talking about artwork. Go to an art museum, especially one that has a historic collection, and you'll likely see many portraits hanging on the walls. Formal portraits were commissioned by wealthy people throughout history. A portrait can also be a written description of someone's appearance or character. If you describe your Mom in such detail that everyone can imagine what she's like, you've created a portrait of her.
Vocabulary lists containing portrait
Face It: Selfie Vocab
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Inside Out & Back Again
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"Earthquake"
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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.
He painted this one of the heiress to Hunt Wesson Foods and her husband, a zealous art fan, shortly after creating another well-known double portrait of Isherwood and Bachardy.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 12, 2026
His most famous works also included the portrait Mr and Mrs Clark and Percy, of fashion designer Ossie Clark and textile designer Celia Birtwell, in 1971.
From BBC • Jun. 12, 2026
Everyone wears white, and an enlarged portrait of Paul sits on an easel overlooking the quad.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 8, 2026
John Singleton Copley’s 1768 portrait of Paul Revere at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts does something similar, on a smaller scale and in a different medium.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 5, 2026
Penelope nodded, for she had once seen a large and forbidding portrait of Admiral Percival Racine Ashton hanging in Lord Fredrick’s taxidermy-filled study.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
