What does "picture" mean?
A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.
Picture
/ˈpɪk(t)ʃə/ noun, verb, slang
noun, verb, slang ·Top 500 ·Middle school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.
- Grammar: picture is listed as noun, verb, slang.
- Nearest alternatives: depiction, image, photograph, 3-d.
- Useful contrasts: amnesia, details, disregard.
- Usage evidence: Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or a picture or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
How to use "picture"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "picture" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "picture" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "picture" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "picture" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "picture" is acting as noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "depiction" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "picture", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.
"Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out.[…]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft."
- 2 graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface wordnet
- 3 An image; a representation as in the imagination.
"My eyes make pictures when they are shut."
- 4 a representation of a person or scene in the form of a print or transparent slide or in digital format wordnet
- 5 A painting.
"There was a picture hanging above the fireplace."
Show 18 more definitions
- 6 a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface wordnet
- 7 A photograph.
"I took a picture of the church."
- 8 a typical example of some state or quality wordnet
- 9 A motion picture. India, dated
"Casablanca is my all-time favorite picture."
- 10 a clear and telling mental image wordnet
- 11 ("the pictures") Cinema (as a form of entertainment). in-plural, informal
"Let's go to the pictures."
- 12 the visible part of a television transmission wordnet
- 13 A paragon, a perfect example or specimen (of a category).
"She's the very picture of health."
- 14 a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement wordnet
- 15 An attractive sight.
"The garden is a real picture at this time of year."
- 16 illustrations used to decorate or explain a text wordnet
- 17 The art of painting; representation by painting.
"any well-expressed image[…]either in picture or sculpture"
- 18 a graphic or vivid verbal description wordnet
- 19 A figure; a model.
"the young king's picture[…]in virgin wax"
- 20 a situation treated as an observable object wordnet
- 21 Situation.
"The employment picture for the older middle class is not so good."
- 22 A sample of an illegal drug. Multicultural-London-English
"If you want me to buy your weed I’ll need a picture."
- 23 A format string in the COBOL programming language.
"The COBOL restriction for the currency symbol in a picture string to be replaced by a single character currency symbol is a compromise solution."
Verb
- 1 To represent in or with a picture. transitive
"while upon the shaded top of the box, drawn in perspective, the artist had pictured a plate with the beautifully executed, twin-lobed, brainlike, halved kernel of a walnut."
- 2 imagine; conceive of; see in one's mind wordnet
- 3 To imagine or envision. transitive
"Picture yourself on a boat on a river / With tangerine trees and marmalade skies"
- 4 show in, or as in, a picture wordnet
- 5 To depict or describe vividly. transitive
"I had never found him so impossible to soften or to move. I tried this way and I tried that; I pictured his future in an English gaol; I described the sorrow of his mother when I came back with the news; I said everything to touch his heart, but all to no purpose."
Example
"Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or a picture or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "picture"?
Common synonyms include: depiction, image, photograph, 3-d, abstract, abstraction.
How do you use "picture" in a sentence?
Every man's work, whether it be literature or music or a picture or architecture or anything else, is always a portrait of himself.
How do you pronounce "picture"?
Pronounced /ˈpɪk(t)ʃə/.
Etymology
From Middle English pycture, from Old French picture, itself from Latin pictūra (“the art of painting, a painting”), from pingō (“I paint”). Doublet of pictura.