picture
a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface
How often you will meet it
Rank 842 of 71,295 words measured. It occurs 21,707 times across 155,370 chapters — 0.010% of every word in the library.
It belongs to the first 1,000 words, the band worth learning before any other.
What it means
noun
- a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface also: image, icon, ikon they showed us the pictures of their weddinga movie is a series of images projected so rapidly that the eye integrates them
- graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface also: painting a small painting by Picassohe bought the painting as an investment
- a clear and telling mental image also: mental picture, impression he described his mental picture of his assailanthe had no clear picture of himself or his world
- a situation treated as an observable object also: scene the political picture is favorablethe religious scene in England has changed in the last century
- illustrations used to decorate or explain a text also: pictorial matter the dictionary had many pictures
- a form of entertainment that enacts a story by sound and a sequence of images giving the illusion of continuous movement also: movie, film, moving picture, moving-picture show, motion picture, motion-picture show they went to a movie every Saturday nightthe film was shot on location
picture in real books
Each sentence below was written by a published author and is taken from a different book in our library. Open one to read the passage it came from, with narration.
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This is a picture of Kit and Kat.
The Dutch Twins · Lucy Fitch Perkins · Chapter 1
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What that Real is, let hint A picture stamped in memory’s mint.
John Marr and Other Poems · Herman Melville · Chapter 1
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Old Baltus Van Tassel was a perfect picture of a thriving, contented, liberal-hearted farmer.
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow · Washington Irving · Chapter 1
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That was a very pretty picture, Tom thought, to hang in a lady’s room.
The Water-Babies · Charles Kingsley · Chapter 1
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Your mysterious young friend, whose name you have never told me, but whose picture really fascinates me, never thinks.
The Picture of Dorian Gray · Oscar Wilde · Chapter 1