Brushstroke

//ˈbɹʌʃˌstɹoʊk// noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    The stroke of a brush, as in painting.

    "Since moving to the city [Paris], his [Vincent Van Gogh’s] palette had become lighter and more colorful and his brushstrokes more distinct. In this painting [Boulevard de Clichy], the pastel colors reflect the soft, wintry light. His brushstrokes, now shorter and almost dash-like, give the pedestrians a sense of hurrying along the boulevard."

Example

More examples

"The blank canvas always presents a very difficult challenge to Lourdes, but once she achieve the first brushstroke then the rest is smooth sailing."

Etymology

From brush + stroke.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.