- a variation of sculp..
sculpt
Americanverb (used with or without object)
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sculpts,
present (3rd person singular)
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sculpted,
past participle, past
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sculpting
present participle
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sculptsimple
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sculptssimple
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have sculptedperfect
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has sculptedperfect
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am sculptingprogressive
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are sculptingprogressive
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is sculptingprogressive
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have been sculptingperfect progressive
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has been sculptingperfect progressive
Past
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sculptedsimple
-
had sculptedperfect
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was sculptingprogressive
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were sculptingprogressive
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had been sculptingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sculpt
1860–65; < French sculpter < Latin sculpt- (past participle stem of sculpere to carve); or as back formation from sculptor
Explanation
To sculpt is to shape or carve a figure out of a moldable or hard material. You could sculpt a figure of your mom's cat or you could sculpt your biceps by lifting weights. Artists who sculpt are called sculptors, and the work of art they make is called a sculpture. You can sculpt out of wood or stone, by carving, or sculpt clay by molding and shaping. You can sculpt metal by heating it and pouring it into molds, or by welding pieces of it together. It's even possible to sculpt with balloons, twisting them into complicated structures or figures.
Vocabulary lists containing sculpt
"Brothers in Hope"
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Unit 17, Lesson 4
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Black Girl You Are Atlas
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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:
The Murdochs declined to participate, but decades’ worth of archival footage gives Garbus plenty to sculpt.
From Salon ● Mar. 14, 2026
They can determine where crystallization occurs, reshape and "sculpt" the structures, and enhance their uniformity and size to create larger and more intricate colloidal assemblies.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 2, 2026
The manosphere’s sobriety is robed in strength and self-actualization, no different than the sleep routine, supplements, and squats that will sculpt the best version of you.
From Slate ● Feb. 15, 2026
He advises us to sculpt our work selves so that we show up as “sanitized, professional, and bright-side” versions of ourselves.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 16, 2026
When he has a science project, she’s on the floor helping sculpt the volcano with him.
From "Class Matters" by The New York Times
That wrist is how Alcaraz sculpts that spectacular drop shot that makes opponents quiver at the knees and would make Harry Hopman cry.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026
Craning her neck into elegant lines, she sculpts herself into the rendering she wants.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 7, 2026
Scientists have found a "tipping point" in the evolution of fungi that throttles their growth and sculpts their shapes.
From Science Daily ● Mar. 25, 2024
With all that, he still sculpts a performance that is solid granite supporting a crackled shale of a script.
From Salon ● Mar. 15, 2024
In the end, Santa sculpts the group’s freewheeling ideas into a few concrete requirements: I have to repay Mr. Davis for the fireworks I stole.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
In a realistic 1870s monument for a member of the Piaggio family, a dead man’s widow, shown leaving the door of a tomb, is wearing an elaborate lace shawl and mourning through her sculpted eyelashes.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 23, 2026
Munich's Allianz Arena is sculpted by thousands of diamond-shaped inflatable cushions, while Sydney's similarly-named Allianz Stadium has a flatter façade smoothed with long bronze fins.
From BBC ● Aug. 22, 2026
“Every detail, from the custom Vintage Rose hue to the hand-draped silk chiffon, delicate lacework and sculpted corsetry, was created to reflect her effortless spirit while celebrating the artistry of couture.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 27, 2026
And with hope, beautiful souls—something far more precious—are sculpted.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 7, 2026
But she thinks Aunt J did a good job wrangling my hair into an even, sculpted low fade.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
Technicians monitoring the monument’s 140 microfractures have noted that further high-impact sculpting would risk catastrophic rockfalls, potentially destabilizing the scupture of Abraham Lincoln.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 3, 2026
"Instead of searching for entirely new materials or manipulating the chemical properties of existing ones, we are now showing how superconductivity can be enhanced by sculpting the substrate," says Lombardi.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 17, 2026
“We created the studio for painting, drawing, sculpting and writing. Whatever happens with AI doesn’t really matter to us.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 15, 2026
Promoted as sculpting devices, they've built a reputation for lifting and contouring but Aiza says they "do not permanently tighten skin, change skin structure, or remove fat".
From BBC ● Feb. 16, 2026
He’d even scratched his name into a piece of moldable plastic, and I found a sculpting knife with yellow on its end, so I knew that was what he did it with.
From "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close" by Jonathan Safran Foer
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.
