noun
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the practice or art of making portraits
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another term for portrait
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portraits collectively
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a verbal description
Etymology
Origin of portraiture
Explanation
The process of painting a picture or taking a photograph of a person is called portraiture. If an art exhibit only includes pictures of faces, you can describe its focus as portraiture. Portraiture is the art of making a portrait, which is a close study of one person. Taking a candid snapshot of your friend riding by on her skateboard isn't portraiture. But if you ask your friend to pose with her skateboard while you take a photo — that's what portraiture is all about. Painters who specialize in portraiture often have subjects "sit" while their portraits are painted. Portraiture is rooted in the Old French portraire, "to paint."
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.
They’re swapping out traditional serif fonts and faceless boardroom photography for colorful palettes and smiling, approachable partner portraiture.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
Carter is also more than a photographer who has shot fashion spreads for Vogue, Valentino and Ralph Lauren, or whose portraiture has been featured on the covers of Essence and GQ.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2026
The plethora of portraiture was part of Elizabeth’s campaign to both rehabilitate her mother’s image and strengthen her own claims to the throne.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 22, 2026
This is, to put it plainly, the stuff of well-considered emotional rawness, painstaking portraiture of our collective pasts.
From Salon ● May 12, 2026
In these stacked blocks of portraiture, Annie stared at the camera, unchanged from frame to frame.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
