First recorded in 1965–70
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
After getting out a few cans of spray paint, something drew him to the manhole cover in the street.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 26, 2025
“You legally cannot bring a battery or a can of spray paint into this landfill,” said Dallas Lawrence, an Agoura Hills resident and president of the Las Virgenes School Board in Calabasas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2025
The paint congeals and my spray paint spits out; it doesn't flow smoothly because it's frozen.
From BBC ● Feb. 14, 2025
Workers have removed some of the graffiti from the “Day Without an Immigrant” protest, but some was written with a type of spray paint that requires a more extensive — and expensive — removal.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 7, 2025
On either side of the spray paint, kids passed out flyers.
From "All American Boys" by Jason Reynolds
Both were asked to spray-paint the Islamic shahada - the declaration of faith - in Arabic on a defunct Debenhams in the city centre.
From BBC ● Jun. 15, 2026
There’s trees that they climbed … and I let them spray-paint the fences.
From MarketWatch ● Apr. 7, 2026
And unlike decades ago — when Ramos had to sneak around in darkness to spray-paint his nickname in large, block letters all over the city and surrounding areas — this time it was fully permissible.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 24, 2025
Black spray-paint on the side of the house showed a heart with “16” in the middle.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 16, 2023
Beside a small bottle of water and a white headband were two spray-paint bottles, one with a white top and one with a blue.
From "The Other Wes Moore: One Name, Two Fates" by Wes Moore
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.
