sculpture
Americannoun
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the art of carving, modeling, welding, or otherwise producing figurative or abstract works of art in three dimensions, as in relief, intaglio, or in the round.
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such works of art collectively.
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an individual piece of such work.
verb (used with object)
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to carve, model, weld, or otherwise produce (a piece of sculpture).
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to produce a portrait or image of in this way; represent in sculpture.
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Physical Geography. to change the form of (the land surface) by erosion.
verb (used without object)
noun
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the art of making figures or designs in relief or the round by carving wood, moulding plaster, etc, or casting metals, etc
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works or a work made in this way
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ridges or indentations as on a shell, formed by natural processes
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the gradual formation of the landscape by erosion
verb
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(also intr) to carve, cast, or fashion (stone, bronze, etc) three dimensionally
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to portray (a person, etc) by means of sculpture
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to form in the manner of sculpture, esp to shape (landscape) by erosion
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to decorate with sculpture
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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resculptureverb (used with object)
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nonsculpturaladjective
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sculpturaladjective
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unsculpturaladjective
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nonsculpturallyadverb
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sculpturallyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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sculpturesimple
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sculpturessimple
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have sculpturedperfect
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has sculpturedperfect
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am sculpturingprogressive
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are sculpturingprogressive
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is sculpturingprogressive
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have been sculpturingperfect progressive
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has been sculpturingperfect progressive
Past
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sculpturedsimple
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had sculpturedperfect
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was sculpturingprogressive
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were sculpturingprogressive
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had been sculpturingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of sculpture
1350–1400; Middle English (noun) < Latin sculptūra, equivalent to sculpt ( us ) (past participle of sculpere to carve) + -ūra -ure
Explanation
Sculpture is a type of artwork that's two- or three-dimensional, so you can see it from different sides. You can make sculpture from clay, marble, wood, and even mashed potatoes, though the potato kind might not make it into an art museum. From the Latin sculpere "to carve," sculpture often is carved out of a block of wood, stone, or other material. Statues and outdoor artworks are one type of sculpture, and they are freestanding — you can walk around them, under them, or even over them. Other types are carved into walls, with the figures or objects sticking out from a flat surface. Artists called sculptors use soft materials, metal, and even ice and common objects like cars and cans to make sculpture.
Vocabulary lists containing sculpture
Brown Girl Dreaming
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Ancient Egypt and Kush, Lessons 1–3
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Visual Arts - Introductory
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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:
Much like paper must be folded into the correct shape to create an origami sculpture, proteins inside cells must form precise three-dimensional structures before they can function properly.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 28, 2026
The artist’s eponymous 2025 sculpture, crowned with an array of Bantu knots, ties the entire show together, joining materiality, traditional cultural identity, and the outward-looking nature of the exhibition in a single work.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
KAWS’ body of work spans more than 25 years and includes painting, sculpture and design that straddle fine art and global culture.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
Each item -- described online as a "sculpture" -- is sealed inside a tiny plastic cube to avoid leaking or smells.
From Barron's ● Jul. 8, 2026
He’s not there, so I walk by Sierpiński Sonnet, a kind of spooky sculpture made of white resin.
From "Merci Suárez Changes Gears" by Meg Medina
Bayouth finds older women respond frequently to her female-figured sculptures, while a younger crowd is drawn to her catlike creatures.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
Elsewhere, sizable sculptures of unknown creatures made from glass beads are effortfully wacky.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Kreitzman's Mile End house is filled from top to bottom with pictures and sculptures, on every colourful wall, on every table, in every room and corridor.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Less successful are the sculptures that explore umthwalo, the custom of women carrying heavy items on their heads.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 17, 2026
She spent all day working on oil paintings, watercolors, charcoal drawings, pen-and-ink sketches, clay and wire sculptures, silk screens, and wood blocks.
From "The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls
Price was best known for his sculptured silhouettes and theatrical styles, including pastel suits which featured in rock band Duran Duran's music video Rio.
From BBC ● Dec. 17, 2025
Natalie Tanner was one of the first people to move into the development, and said she was promised sculptured gardens, which are yet to materialise.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2023
The new Mustang’s exterior has a familiar but more sculptured and modern design.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 4, 2023
In the end, just the building’s sculptured facade, its public face, bulges outward above a glassed-in lobby.
From New York Times ● Dec. 12, 2022
Danny was looking at me, his sculptured face wearing a serious expression.
From "The Chosen" by Chaim Potok
A busboy is embraced by the beatnik art community when he develops an impressive but morbid method of sculpturing.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 25, 2019
It was at college where she first started experimenting with clay, silicon sealants and other materials for sculpturing.
From New York Times ● Mar. 2, 2016
The moon was just rising, molten white; he had to catch that moment with its surreal, sculpturing incandescence.
From New York Times ● Jan. 24, 2013
The Weinstein Company is set to release “Butter,” in which Jennifer Garner plays an ambitious conservative who gets caught up in the world of competitive butter sculpturing, on Oct.
From New York Times ● May 30, 2012
Does it tell of the slow, daily sculpturing upon his character of the three big, emotional episodes of his life?
From In the Heart of a Fool by White, William Allen
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.
