still life
Americannoun
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a representation chiefly of inanimate objects, as a painting of a bowl of fruit.
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the category of subject matter in which inanimate objects are represented, as in painting or photography.
noun
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a painting or drawing of inanimate objects, such as fruit, flowers, etc
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( as modifier )
a still-life painting
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the genre of such paintings
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of still life
First recorded in 1635–45
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.
SS: My work started out really thinking about the artistic references we get as people working in food and still life.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Next to the screens of combat videos in Madyar's bunker is artwork from renowned Ukrainian painters, including a still life of flowers by Maria Prymachenko.
From Barron's ● Jun. 10, 2026
Lutnick’s testimony this past week, like Bondi’s, is thus operating as a still life in what happens when the law becomes inert.
From Slate ● Feb. 12, 2026
I don’t consider Klee—sui generis—to be a Surrealist, but “Fish Magic,” merging aquarium, children’s art, still life, cosmos and landscape, is the quintessential portrait of a dream.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 27, 2025
What happened was that a few days after they split, I was in the Art Room with some other girls, working on a still life.
From "Never Let Me Go" by Kazuo Ishiguro
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.
