semi-abstract

American  

[sem-ee-ab-strakt, -ab-strakt, sem-ahy-] / ˌsɛm iˈæb strækt, -æbˈstrækt, ˌsɛm aɪ- /

adjective

1. pertaining to or designating a style of painting or sculpture in which the subject remains recognizable although the forms are highly stylized in a manner derived from abstract art.

---

Other Word Forms

• semi-abstraction
  noun

Etymology

Origin of semi-abstract

First recorded in 1940–45

Example Sentences

But that price was the same as the record $3.6 million given in March for the British artist Flora Yukhnovich’s 2020 semi-abstract canvas “Warm, Wet ’N’ Wild,” inspired by another 18th-century French painting.

From New York Times • Jan. 16, 2023

One early painting, the semi-abstract “Salazar Vomiting the Homeland,” excoriated the dictatorship and would have been impossible to display at the time in Portugal.

From Seattle Times • Jun. 8, 2022

She was a talented artist and did several lovely semi-abstract self-portraits.

From Slate • Aug. 10, 2020

The result was an inventory of relatively traditional semi-abstract paintings.

From BBC • Jan. 11, 2020

And observe that St. John does not, in applying these semi-abstract words to God, attenuate in the slightest degree His personality.

From Christian Mysticism by Inge, William Ralph