triptych
Americannoun
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Fine Arts. a set of three panels or compartments side by side, bearing pictures, carvings, or the like.
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a hinged, three-leaved tablet, written on, in ancient times, with a stylus.
noun
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a set of three pictures or panels, usually hinged so that the two wing panels fold over the larger central one: often used as an altarpiece
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a set of three hinged writing tablets
Etymology
Origin of triptych
1725–35; < Greek tríptychos of three plates, equivalent to tri- tri- + ptych- (stem of ptýx ) plate + -os adj. suffix
Explanation
Artists sometimes create a triptych, a series of three panels that are meant to be displayed together. You can use the noun triptych to describe three paintings that are deliberately hung together, as one piece, on the walls of an art gallery. Some triptychs are made up of three carved panels, sometimes connected to each other with hinges. The Greek root word, triptykhos, "three-layered," comes from tri, which means "three," and ptykhos, "fold or layer" in Greek. A related artistic term is diptych, which means two panels.
Vocabulary lists containing triptych
The Last Last-Day-of-Summer
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Art History
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Shout
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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.
“More Than Friends: A Triptych on Queer Love Through the Ages” is a program of three one-act chamber operas in English.
From Seattle Times • May 23, 2023
Described by Christie's as among the iconoclastic Irish-born painter's last great paintings, "Triptych 1986-7" features then U.S.
From Reuters • Feb. 23, 2022
Stockholm A couple’s relationship unravels in the West Coast premiere of Bryony Lavery’s drama set in the Swedish capital; presented by Triptych Theatre Group.
From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 4, 2019
That’s a lesson viewers might take away from “Maestà: Gaddi’s Triptych Reunited,” a tiny exhibition at the New-York Historical Society that inadvertently prompts thought about museums and their responsibilities.
From New York Times • Dec. 31, 2015
“We can look for the Triptych Treasure in Bosch Cave.”
From "The Last Last-Day-of-Summer" by Lamar Giles
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.
