portray
Americanverb (used with object)
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portrays,
present (3rd person singular)
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portrayed,
past participle, past
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portraying
present participle
verb
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to represent in a painting, drawing, sculpture, etc; make a portrait of
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to make a verbal picture of; depict in words
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to play the part of (a character) in a play or film
Synonym Usage
See depict.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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portrayalnoun
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portrayernoun
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preportrayverb (used with object)
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nonportrayableadjective
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portrayableadjective
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unportrayableadjective
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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portraysimple
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portrayssimple
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have portrayedperfect
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has portrayedperfect
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am portrayingprogressive
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are portrayingprogressive
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is portrayingprogressive
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have been portrayingperfect progressive
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has been portrayingperfect progressive
Past
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portrayedsimple
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had portrayedperfect
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was portrayingprogressive
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were portrayingprogressive
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had been portrayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of portray
First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English portrayen, from Middle French portraire, from Late Latin prōtrahere “to depict,” Latin: “to draw forth,” equivalent to prō- pro- 1 + trahere “to draw”
Explanation
When you paint a picture of someone, either in words or in paint, you portray them. Actors portray characters too. Whether you're talking about acting or another art form, the idea is the same: representing a person and bringing to light their most important qualities. To portray a person is to show who that person is, giving a sense of their personality or character. Often, famous people don't like how they're portrayed. For example, Presidents usually hate how they're portrayed in editorial cartoons. When you portray someone, you can be positive or negative, accurate or inaccurate. It's up to you.
Vocabulary lists containing portray
Jim Burke's Academic Vocabulary List
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The SAT: Language of the Test, List 6
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The Language of Standardized Tests, List 4
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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.
See Examples For:
Both approaches portray the mind as constantly seeking stability and predictability.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026
Other problems arise from overeager attempts to portray Philadelphia as the birthplace of various advancements while ignoring other places’ possible claims.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
Bass denounced Raman’s remarks, saying it was “a lie” to portray Gates, who held his post from 1978 to 1992, as the gold standard for the city’s Latino residents.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2026
Sheen, 57, is acclaimed for his ability to convincingly portray a range of different personalities on screen, from Tony Blair to Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor via Brian Clough.
From BBC ● Sep. 26, 2026
Photographs from Ernest’s adolescence portray a handsome young boy, with his mother’s full lips and his father’s expressive blue eyes.
From "Big Science" by Michael Hiltzik
But his new film, Primetime, takes him in a completely new direction - as he portrays the real-life host of American TV show, To Catch a Predator.
From BBC ● Oct. 11, 2026
He portrays Mr. David, for all the comedian’s considerable idiosyncrasies, as an indisputable comic genius, a doting father and a loyal friend.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
"The Social Reckoning" portrays Zuckerberg as an adult, a role played by Jeremy Strong.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
Pattinson portrays Hansen as a caricature of himself, accentuating the journalist’s unmistakable vocal cadence to remove any distance between “To Catch a Predator” and the man behind the show.
From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026
Lorenzetti portrays the moment when Mary becomes pregnant.
From "The Invention of Science" by David Wootton
Discoveries like these helped overturn the image of Neanderthals that prevailed during the Victorian era, when they were often portrayed as primitive, brutish, and less than fully human.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
But unlike the most well-known version of that character, portrayed by Piper Laurie in Brian DePalma’s 1976 adaptation, Margaret is not a melodramatic, over-the-top, completely irrational zealot.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
For years, he has portrayed his team as the ultimate underdog, a group of underfunded no-names lucky to share the field with the real baseball powerhouses.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
In the mid-late 1990s, Koenig portrayed a very different character, the ruthless Psi Corps telepath Alfred Bester, in another sci-fi space series, Babylon 5.
From BBC ● Oct. 26, 2026
Whereas in England even abolitionists portrayed humble slaves on their knees pleading for freedom, in this coin designed for use in Africa, the English and the African are shown as nearly equal.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
Legendary actor Sir Patrick Stewart rose from humble beginnings in his native Yorkshire to become a global superstar whose work became immortalised portraying characters on some of the most popular sci-fi franchises in history.
From BBC ● Oct. 30, 2026
Amanda Seyfried, who won an Emmy for portraying Holmes in Hulu’s “The Dropout,” plays her again, while Christopher Abbott takes on the role of Evans.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 26, 2026
The actor, best known for portraying Nick Miller on the hit comedy series, is looking to part ways with the four-bedroom, four-bathroom property, which offers approximately 3,153 square feet of living space.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 15, 2026
The findings add to a growing body of research portraying Neanderthals as resourceful humans who understood and exploited the natural materials around them.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2026
There they watch a play portraying the events that followed the Battle of Danno-ura.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
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