sand painting

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noun

the ceremonial practice among Navaho and Pueblo Indians of creating symbolic designs on a flat surface with varicolored sand.

the designs so made.

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Origin of sand painting

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Words nearby sand painting

S&M, sandman, sand martin, sand myrtle, Sandor, sand painting, sandpaper, sandpapery, sand pear, sand perch, sand pile

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use sand painting in a sentence

There are limits to the painting of banditry and extortion as the legitimate raising of taxes.
ISIS’s Futile Quest to Go Legit|Jamie Dettmer|January 5, 2015|DAILY BEAST
There is only sand, a white ball, and a flag indicating the hole.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
When the game starts, there is only sand, a white ball, a flag indicating hole 1, and a “0” at the top of the screen.
Lost For Thousands of Strokes: 'Desert Golfing' Is 'Angry Birds' as Modern Art|Alec Kubas-Meyer|January 2, 2015|DAILY BEAST
In “Sleigh Ride,” the narrator is painting a scene so perfect that it could be featured on an iconic Currier and Ives print.
The Most Confusing Christmas Music Lyrics Explained (VIDEO)|Kevin Fallon|December 24, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Was it your wife Helena in the Keane painting you commissioned?
Tim Burton Talks ‘Big Eyes,’ His Taste For the Macabre, and the ‘Beetlejuice’ Sequel|Marlow Stern|December 17, 2014|DAILY BEAST
She did her work at a most interesting period in Dutch painting.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
Broken crocks should be strewn upon the tray, and on to this is heaped peaty soil mixed with sand.
How to Know the Ferns|S. Leonard Bastin
You speak with about as little reflection as we might expect from one of those children down there playing in the sand.
The Awakening and Selected Short Stories|Kate Chopin
This led to her painting portraits of various members of the royal family while she was still a pupil of De Zichys.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement
In 1884 she once more yielded to the attraction that Paris had for her, and there made a great advance in her painting.
Women in the fine arts, from the Seventh Century B.C. to the Twentieth Century A.D.|Clara Erskine Clement

British Dictionary definitions for sand painting

sand painting

noun

a type of painting done by American Indians, esp in the healing ceremonies of the Navaho, using fine coloured sand on a neutral ground

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012