Pictorial

//pɪkˈtɔɹi.əl// adj, noun

adj, noun ·Moderate ·College level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A newspaper or magazine with many pictures, or section thereof.

    "Sunday Pictorial"

  2. 2
    a periodical (magazine or newspaper) containing many pictures wordnet
  3. 3
    An article primarily featuring many photographs, or simply a collection of photographs.

    "The budding starlet is featured in a pictorial in a glossy magazine next week."

  4. 4
    A stamp featuring a vignette of local scenery or culture.

    "beautiful Pictorials, topicals, commemoratives, airmails. Introductory selection 40% discount. Ralph Rice, 15 Longlane, West Hartford 7, Conn."

Adjective
  1. 1
    Of, relating to, composed of, or illustrated by pictures.
  2. 2
    Described or otherwise represented as if in a picture; graphic or vivid.

    "Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story."

  3. 3
    Stylistically similar to a painting, especially following the conventions of pictorialism.
Adjective
  1. 1
    evoking lifelike images within the mind wordnet
  2. 2
    pertaining to or consisting of pictures wordnet

Example

More examples

"A metaphor is a pictorial expression."

Etymology

From Latin pictōrius (“of painting”) + -al, from pictor (“painter”).

Related phrases

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