retouch
Americanverb (used with object)
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to improve with new touches, highlights, or the like; touch up or rework, as a painting or makeup.
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Photography. to alter (a negative or positive) after development by adding or removing lines, lightening areas, etc., with a pencil, brush, or knife.
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to dye, tint, or bleach (a new growth of hair) to match or blend with the color of an earlier and previously dyed growth.
noun
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an added touch to a picture, painting, paint job, etc., by way of improvement or alteration.
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an act or instance of dyeing new growth of hair to blend with previously dyed hair.
verb
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to restore, correct, or improve (a painting, make-up, etc) with new touches
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photog to alter (a negative or print) by painting over blemishes or adding details
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to make small finishing improvements to
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archaeol to detach small flakes from (a stone) in order to make a tool
noun
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the art or practice of retouching
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a detail that is the result of retouching
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a photograph, painting, etc, that has been retouched
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archaeol fine percussion to shape flakes of stone into usable tools
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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retouchsimple
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retouchessimple
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have retouchedperfect
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has retouchedperfect
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am retouchingprogressive
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are retouchingprogressive
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is retouchingprogressive
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have been retouchingperfect progressive
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has been retouchingperfect progressive
Past
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retouchedsimple
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had retouchedperfect
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was retouchingprogressive
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were retouchingprogressive
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had been retouchingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of retouch
1675–85; < Middle French retoucher, equivalent to re- re- + toucher to touch
Explanation
To retouch something is to improve it by making small changes. You might retouch your photo to make your teeth look whiter before you post it on social media. When you make edits or alterations to a photograph, a painting, or another artwork, you retouch them: "It's clear the artist decided to go back and retouch these early etchings." You might also retouch your friend's makeup or hairdo before the prom and then use computer software to digitally retouch the pictures you take of her. The French root, retoucher, means "touch again with a view to improving."
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:
The sponge tool, on the other hand, works to help retouch images by saturating or desaturating color, allowing users to fine-tune how vibrant their images and art look.
From The Verge ● Dec. 14, 2021
“At one point, I was the photographer. I know how to retouch product too.”
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
Greene told Fox News that her daughter’s school picture hadn’t even been taken yet when she was given the option to retouch the photo.
From Fox News ● Nov. 2, 2021
“When you want to retouch the painting, you must artificially age the pigment,” De Winter said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 5, 2019
You could retouch the paint on the bathroom windowsill, and after you do it you could warn me so that I don’t put my watch on it.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
There are retouches to the original tale, updates to conform to modern sensibilities and a few winking asides to the audience, but the basic recipe of a whodunit spoof is preserved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 1, 2024
Once inside, Hannah retouches her makeup and arranges herself on the couch.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 21, 2015
On Saturday night, after everyone goes to bed, Mom steals into the kitchen under cover of night and rolls the Hostess Ding-Dong away from the door of the Empty Tomb Cake, then retouches the frosting.
From Salon ● Mar. 31, 2013
Following Mass, Francis will remove seals on papal apartments so that crews can do small retouches before the new pope moves in.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 14, 2013
"If she but retouches her hair, or rearranges her ribbons or her jewellery, these little fashions conceal a satire judicious and natural, and throw ridicule upon the women she wishes to represent."
From Queens of the French Stage by Williams, H. Noel
This work was done by Gardena-based company KC Restoration, which retouched and treated each damaged or cracked tile with the type of care and attention to detail used by painting conservators, Denk said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 10, 2025
He also found scrapers and other retouched pieces known as Mousterian stone artifacts that suggested the cave had been used by Neanderthals.
From Science Daily ● Nov. 21, 2023
For teens, this seamless integration of celebrities and retouched versions of real-life peers presents a ripe environment for upward social comparison, or comparing yourself to someone who is “better” in some respect.
From Scientific American ● Oct. 26, 2023
Norway introduced a law in 2021 that requires these two social media groups to indicate whether a photograph has been retouched.
From BBC ● May 14, 2023
He was kneeling on the floor, marking, with ripped bits of a Post-it, patches on the baseboard that needed to be retouched with paint.
From "Interpreter of Maladies" by Jhumpa Lahiri
His large-scale, photorealistic paintings render L.A.’s visual language through tools like commercial photo retouching, Hollywood set painting and manual sign painting traditions, creating a unique commentary on image making and the city’s systems of communication.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 23, 2026
Some kinds of retouching require old-school edits from other Adobe software like Lightroom.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 30, 2025
The BBC's Emma Vardy said she was retouching her makeup for some final Oscars filming when the quake struck.
From BBC ● Mar. 3, 2025
The proud grandmother revealed that she told magazine staffers she did not want retouching done on her SI Swimsuit photos — even dishing that she had a cheeseburger the day before her shoot.
From Seattle Times ● May 15, 2024
It startled Ifemelu, how much a relaxer retouching cost at Aunty Uju’s hair salon; the haughty hairdressers sized up each customer, eyes swinging from head to shoes, to decide how much attention she was worth.
From "Americanah" by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
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.
