I. pic ‧ ture 1 S1 W1 /ˈpɪktʃə $ -ər/ BrE AmE noun
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ pictorial , ↑ picturesque ; verb : ↑ picture ; noun : ↑ picture ]
[ Date: 1400-1500 ; Language: Latin ; Origin: pictura , from pictus , past participle of pingere 'to paint' ]
1 . PAINTING/DRAWING [countable] shapes, lines etc painted or drawn on a surface, showing what someone or something looks like:
The room had several pictures on the walls.
a book with pictures in it
picture of
I like that picture of the two horses.
draw/paint a/sb’s picture
Draw a picture of your house.
He asked her permission to paint her picture (=paint a picture of her) .
2 . PHOTOGRAPH [countable] a photograph
picture of
That’s a great picture of you, Dad!
take sb’s picture/take a picture of somebody
I asked the waiter if he’d mind taking our picture.
wedding/holiday etc pictures
Would you like to see the wedding pictures?
3 . TELEVISION [countable] an image that appears on a television or cinema screen
picture of
upsetting pictures of the famine in Africa
satellite pictures from space
4 . DESCRIPTION/IDEA [countable usually singular] a description or idea of what something is like
picture of
The book gives you a good picture of what life was like in Japan in the early 19th century.
The article paints a rather bleak picture of the future of our planet.
Detectives are trying to build up a picture of the kidnapper.
The description in the guidebook showed rather a rosy picture (=one that makes you think that something is better than it really is) .
I now have a vivid picture (=very clear picture) in my mind.
5 . SITUATION [singular] the general situation in a place, organization etc:
The worldwide picture for tribal people remains grim.
the wider political picture
Checks throughout the region revealed a similar picture everywhere.
big/bigger/wider picture
We were so caught up with the details, we lost sight of the big picture (=the situation considered as a whole) .
6 . MENTAL IMAGE [countable usually singular] an image or memory that you have in your mind:
Sarah had a mental picture of Lisbon.
He had a vivid picture in his mind.
7 . put/keep somebody in the picture to give someone all the information they need to understand a situation, especially one that is changing quickly:
I’m just going now, but Keith will put you in the picture.
8 . get the picture informal to understand a situation:
You’ve said enough. I get the picture.
9 . out of the picture if someone is out of the picture, they are no longer involved in a situation:
Injury has effectively put Woods out of the picture as far as international matches are concerned.
10 . FILM
a) [countable] a film:
It was voted the year’s best picture.
b) the pictures [plural] British English the cinema:
Would you like to go to the pictures?
11 . be the picture of health/innocence/despair etc to look very healthy etc:
Head bowed and sobbing, she was the picture of misery.
12 . be/look a picture to look beautiful
⇨ pretty as a picture at ↑ pretty 2 (7)
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 1)
■ verbs
▪ draw/paint a picture
She drew a picture of a mushroom on the blackboard.
▪ do a picture of somebody/something (=draw or paint a picture)
He’s done a picture of a monster.
▪ a picture hangs somewhere
Three pictures hung on the wall over his bed.
▪ a picture shows something formal
The picture shows two women leaning down towards a third.
▪ a picture is of somebody/something (=used to talk about what a picture shows)
There's a picture of his wife above the fireplace.
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COLLOCATIONS (for Meaning 4)
■ adjectives
▪ a clear/good picture
He still didn’t have a clear picture of what had happened.
▪ a vivid picture (=very clear)
Their diaries give us a vivid picture of their lives at the time.
▪ an accurate/true picture
Our aim is to build an accurate picture of the needs of disabled people.
▪ a distorted/misleading picture (=one that is not accurate)
The media coverage left many people with a distorted picture.
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These figures give a misleading picture of the company’s financial health.
▪ a detailed picture
We now have a detailed picture of the bird’s habits.
▪ a complete/full picture
By asking these questions, I was able to get a more complete picture.
▪ an overall/general picture
The study is intended to provide an overall picture of political activity in the nation.
▪ a bleak/gloomy/grim picture (=giving the impression that something is or will be bad)
The report paints a bleak picture of the economy.
▪ a rosy picture (=giving the impression that something is or will be good)
That figure paints a misleadingly rosy picture.
■ verbs
▪ have a picture
I've never been there, but I have a picture of it in my mind.
▪ a picture emerges (=becomes clear)
No clear picture emerges from the studies.
▪ get a picture
Scientists have been trying to get a better picture of how the drug works.
▪ build up/form a picture (=gradually get an idea of what something is like)
Detectives are still trying to build up a picture of what happened.
▪ give/provide a picture
Her book gives us an interesting picture of ordinary people’s homes at the time.
▪ present a picture
Newspapers tend to present a grim picture of what's going on in the world.
▪ paint a picture (=create a particular idea or impression, especially one that is not accurate)
The latest survey paints a grim picture.
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THESAURUS
▪ picture shapes, lines etc painted or drawn on a surface, especially as a piece of art, and often showing what someone or something looks like:
a picture of a horse
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He painted the picture in 1890, just before he died.
▪ drawing a picture drawn with a pencil, pen etc:
We had to do a drawing of a sunflower.
▪ sketch a picture that is drawn quickly:
I made a quick sketch of the kind of room we wanted.
▪ painting a picture made using paint:
The painting now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art.
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Picasso did several paintings of her.
▪ portrait a picture of a person:
The portrait was painted by Rembrandt.
▪ landscape a picture of a place, especially in the countryside or the mountains:
Constable painted mainly landscapes.
▪ cartoon a funny drawing in a newspaper or magazine that tells a story or a joke:
A cartoon in the New York Times showed the President talking to Osama Bin Laden.
▪ comic strip a series of pictures drawn inside boxes that tell a story:
Charles Schultz was famous for his cartoon strip about Snoopy and Charlie Brown.
▪ caricature a funny drawing of someone that makes a part of someone’s face or body look bigger, worse etc than it really is, especially in a funny way:
He is famous for his caricatures of politicans.
▪ illustration a picture in a book:
The book has over 100 pages of illustrations, most of them in colour.
▪ poster a large picture printed on paper that you stick to a wall as decoration:
old movie posters
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There were lots of posters of pop bands on her bedroom wall.
▪ print a picture that is usually produced on a ↑ printing press , and is one of a series of copies of the same picture:
a limited edition of lithographic prints by John Lennon
▪ image a picture – used especially when talking about what the picture is like, or the effect it has on you:
He produced some memorable images.
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a beautiful image
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Some of the images are deeply disturbing.
▪ artwork pictures or photographs, especially ones that have been produced to be used in a book or magazine:
We are still waiting for the artwork to come back from the printers.
II. picture 2 BrE AmE verb [transitive]
[ Word Family: adjective : ↑ pictorial , ↑ picturesque ; verb : ↑ picture ; noun : ↑ picture ]
1 . to imagine something by making an image in your mind:
Tom, picturing the scene, smiled.
picture somebody/something as something
Rob had pictured her as serious, but she wasn’t like that.
picture somebody doing something
I can’t picture him skiing. He’s so clumsy!
picture what/how
Picture what it would be like after a nuclear attack.
2 . [usually passive] to show someone or something in a photograph, painting, or drawing:
She is pictured with her mum Christine and sister Kelly.
3 . [usually passive] to describe something in a particular way
be pictured as something
She’s been pictured as a difficult, demanding woman.
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THESAURUS
▪ imagine to form a picture or idea in your mind about what something might be like:
When I think of Honolulu, I imagine long white beaches and palm trees.
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I can’t really imagine being a millionaire.
▪ visualize to form a picture of someone or something in your mind, especially something that is definitely going to happen or exist in the future:
Anna visualized meeting Greg again at the airport.
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The finished house may be hard to visualize.
▪ picture to form a clear picture of something or someone in your mind:
I can still picture my father, even though he died a long time ago.
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The town was just how she had pictured it from his description.
▪ envisage /ɪnˈvɪzɪdʒ/ especially British English , envision to imagine something as possible or likely to happen in the future:
How do you envisage your career developing over the next ten years?
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They had envisioned the creation of a single armed force, small but efficient.
▪ conceive of something formal to imagine a situation, especially one that is difficult to imagine:
For many people, music is so important that they cannot conceive of life without it.
▪ fantasize to imagine something exciting that you would like to happen, but that is very unlikely to happen:
I used to fantasize about becoming a film star.
▪ daydream to imagine pleasant things, so that you forget where you are and what you should be doing:
Mark began to daydream, and didn’t even hear the teacher’s question.
▪ hallucinate to imagine that you are seeing things that are not really there, especially because you are ill or have taken drugs:
The drug that can cause some people to hallucinate.
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When I saw the walls moving, I thought I must be hallucinating.