representational

[rep-ri-zen-tey-shuh-nl, -zuhn-]

adjective

1. of or relating to representation.

2. representing or depicting an object in a recognizable manner.

   representational art.

representational

/ ˌrɛprɪzɛnˈteɪʃənəl /

adjective

1. fine arts depicting or attempting to depict objects, scenes, figures, etc, directly as seen; naturalistic

2. of or relating to representation

Other Word Forms

• unrepresentational adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of representational¹

First recorded in 1850–55; representation + -al ¹

Example Sentences

They reported using only $642 million for “representational activities,” which are related to organizing or job actions, the authors say.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Plainly this genre has quite a distance to travel to achieve representational parity that doesn’t come at the cost of justice.

Read more on Salon

Kahn’s most representational works are his least interesting; it’s in the careful dissection of his elements and the revelation of what we’re looking at that the most joy is found.

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“It was an absolute joy to discover that there was nothing that Chris and Paul had to change to make it representational,” Dumezweni says.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

But those artists approached representational imagery in a wide variety of ways.

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Related Words

• descriptive 
• illustrated 
• photographic 
• visual 
• vivid