watercolor
Americannoun
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watercolors
plural
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a pigment for which water and not oil is used as the vehicle.
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the art or technique of painting with such pigments.
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a painting or design executed in such pigments by this technique.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of watercolor
Explanation
Watercolors are a type of paint that can be mixed with water to create translucent layers of color on paper. You can also call a painting made this way a watercolor. Anyone can paint with watercolors, from toddlers to professional artists. Historians believe that watercolor painting has been around since Paleolithic cave paintings, but it was during the Renaissance that watercolors gained popularity as an artistic medium. It was particularly common for illustrations in books and botanical guides to be made using watercolors into the 19th century, when John James Audubon began his well-known watercolor bird illustrations and field guides.
Vocabulary lists containing watercolor
Visual Arts - Introductory
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Visual Arts - High School
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Art History
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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:
The screen is meticulously rendered in pencil on top of the watercolor.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
In Sabina Hahn’s spare, watercolor illustrations, the pickle is a burnished emerald green with round eyes and no mouth—which makes it all the more remarkable when it begins to speak.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Smitten by Monson de Kansky’s performance, he presented the dancer with a watercolor painting of their characters in the ballet.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 29, 2026
“Christ Is Risen” reads the headline on one email included in the lawsuit, which was decorated with a watercolor illustration of an open cave decorated with flowers.
From Salon ● May 25, 2026
When the mistral kicks up again, he moves inside, drawing with pen and ink and working with watercolor.
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
Take poor Daffy Duck, living up to his namesake, spending his days painting watercolors in the pleasant confines of a cartoon asylum.
From Salon ● Aug. 30, 2026
As a teenager, she was inspired by one of his watercolors, “Itka the Bundist, Breaking Windows.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
I was drawn to some watercolors there, bought a few cards and spoke with one of the artists.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 10, 2026
She had always been creative, experimenting with watercolors and learning to sew and embroider at a young age.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2026
“Lumawoo happy,” Beowulf observed as he dabbed at his watercolors.
From "The Hidden Gallery" by Maryrose Wood
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.
