watercolour

British  

/ ˈwɔːtəˌkʌlə /

noun

1. 1. Also called: pure watercolour.  water-soluble pigment, applied in transparent washes and without the admixture of white pigment in the lighter tones

   2. any water-soluble pigment, including opaque kinds such as gouache and tempera

2. 1. a painting done in watercolours

   2. ( as modifier )

      a watercolour masterpiece

3. the art or technique of painting with such pigments

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Other Word Forms

• watercolourist noun

Example Sentences

Eva Charrington, 59, from Tonbridge, Kent, took up watercolour painting.

From BBC • Mar. 23, 2025

For his 21st birthday, he was given a set of watercolour paints and, from then on, he spent much of his spare time teaching himself to paint.

From BBC • Mar. 3, 2025

This is an 1887 watercolour of Hyderabad in southern India by German artist Woldemar Friedrich.

From BBC • Jul. 20, 2024

She said Mr Gladden, at 100, was still "bright as a button" and "loves singing and painting, and has created watercolour artworks from his memories of the Second World War".

From BBC • Jan. 13, 2024

The Lu-Kao has 378from time immemorial been used by the Chinese in watercolour paintings, but its use in industrial processes only dates from about 20 years back.

From Narrative of the Circumnavigation of the Globe by the Austrian Frigate Novara, Volume II (Commodore B. Von Wullerstorf-Urbair,) Undertaken by Order of the Imperial Government in the Years 1857, 1858, & 1859, Under the Immediate Auspices of His I. and R. Highness the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian, Commander-In-Chief of the Austrian Navy. by Scherzer, Karl Ritter von