painted
Americanadjective
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reproduced or represented in paint.
a painted image.
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covered with a coating of paint.
a painted chair.
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unreal; artificial; feigned.
a painted life.
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exaggerated or misrepresented.
a luridly painted version of what really happened.
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covered with makeup, especially to excess.
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brightly colored or multicolored (used in combinations).
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of painted
Middle English word dating back to 1250–1300; see origin at paint, -ed 2
Explanation
Anything that's painted is either covered or decorated with paint. Brightly painted walls can cheer up a room that would otherwise be dark and dull. Your colorfully painted kitchen chairs are coated with different shades of paint, and your painted fingernails might be dabbed with shiny silver nail polish. Several types of animals are also painted because they have bright or varied stripes of color on their bodies — like painted turtles' colorful shells and painted storks' bright feathers. Painted comes from paint and its Latin root, pingere, "to paint, embroider, or tattoo."
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.
Instead, the liquid is painted directly onto the decayed area.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026
"The catastrophe occupies almost the entire image and yet somehow appears relegated to the background," the French daily said, adding the photo painted an uncomfortable portrait of a generation.
From Barron's ● Jul. 29, 2026
And if the personalities are painted in broad strokes, the performances, particularly by Condor and Newton, create a resonant enough emotional palette.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
It stood outside a brick six-flat, also fittingly painted blue, and decorated with a few stickers: “Protect Native Plants,” a rocket ship from a regional space camp, several iridescent birds.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
I open the yellow one with Aunt Melissa’s house number painted on the side, grab the stack of magazines and envelopes, and rummage through the pile as I walk.
From "South of Somewhere" by Kalena Miller
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.
