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word picture

American  

noun

  1. a description in words, especially one that is unusually vivid.

    She drew a word picture of a South Pacific sunset.


word picture British  

noun

  1. a verbal description, esp a vivid one

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of word picture

First recorded in 1855–60

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:

I vividly remember Noseda using “imagined dialogue” to paint a word picture of the mood he wanted conveyed by our singing.

From Washington Post Mar. 26, 2021

It can kind of turn into a word picture or phrase where you’re just leading the team.”

From Los Angeles Times Jan. 29, 2021

It always helps when you can paint a word picture for voters, as Biden does with his new ad.

From Fox News Sep. 28, 2020

Sebald is describing a collective death, a falling away; the people in this word picture, like the felled trees he describes in “The Rings of Saturn,” are as if caught in a kind of swoon.

From The New Yorker May 29, 2017

"Go tell her, then," said the little master mechanic, who didn't need any word picture to make him see Mrs. MacCaffery's face when she heard the news—and he gave the engineer a friendly push doorwards.

From The Night Operator by Frank L. (Frank Lucius) Packard

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