INDEX:
1. a picture that you paint or draw
2. a humorous drawing
3. a photograph
4. what you see in a mirror, on a screen, or on water
5. the front or back of a picture
RELATED WORDS
see also
↑ DRAW
↑ PAINT
↑ COLOUR
↑ PATTERN
↑ DESIGN
↑ DECORATE
↑ ART/CULTURE
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1. a picture that you paint or draw
▷ picture /ˈpɪktʃəʳ/ [countable noun]
a painting or drawing :
▪ Van Gogh’s "Sunflowers’ is one of the most famous pictures in the world.
▪ an early picture by the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet
picture of
▪ There was a picture of a windmill on the bedroom wall.
somebody’s picture
a painting or drawing of someone
▪ The house belonged to the Duke of Wellington, and his picture hangs in the hall.
draw/paint a picture
▪ I didn’t know the word in Japanese so I drew a little picture.
do a picture
spoken draw or paint a picture
▪ Daisy did a lovely picture of a cat at school today.
▷ painting /ˈpeɪntɪŋ/ [countable noun]
a picture that someone has painted :
▪ an exhibition of paintings by French artists
▪ The museum has an impressive collection of early 20th century American paintings.
painting of
▪ a painting of the Grand Canal in Venice by Canaletto
▪ Gaugin is famous for his paintings of native women on the Pacific island of Tahiti.
do a painting
▪ Dali did several paintings of his wife.
▷ drawing /ˈdrɔːɪŋ/ [countable noun]
a picture that has been drawn using a pen or pencil :
▪ The classroom was bright and cheerful, with childrens’ drawings on the walls.
drawing of
▪ On the wall was a drawing of a woman’s head by Matisse.
do a drawing
▪ Degas did a series of drawings of dancers at the ballet school in Paris.
▷ sketch /sketʃ/ [countable noun]
a picture consisting of a few lines drawn quickly with a pen or pencil :
sketch of
▪ I thought your sketches of the garden were very attractive.
do/make a sketch
▪ The architect did a sketch of how the building will look when it’s finished.
quick/rough sketch
a sketch done very quickly
▪ Gabriella did a quick sketch of her baby daughter.
▷ illustration /ˌɪləˈstreɪʃ ə n/ [countable noun]
a picture in a book, which shows people or events that have been mentioned in the book :
▪ The new encyclopedia is full of color illustrations and photographs.
▪ Who did the illustrations for the book? They’re lovely.
▷ poster /ˈpəʊstəʳ/ [countable noun]
a very large picture or photograph printed on paper, which you put on a wall for decoration :
poster of
▪ Anna’s bedroom wall was covered in posters of James Dean and Marilyn Monroe.
▷ portrait /ˈpɔːʳtrɪt, ˈpɔːʳtrət/ [countable noun]
a painting, drawing, or photograph of a person :
portrait of
▪ A full-length portrait of the Queen hung on the wall.
paint a portrait
▪ The artist Hans Holbein was best known for painting portraits.
self-portrait
a picture of the artist done by the artist
▪ Rembrandt’s ‘Self-portrait with feather in cap’
▪ A series of 43 self-portraits by Greek-born American Lucas Samaras (b. 1936) have been donated to the Museum of Modern Art, New York.
▷ landscape /ˈlændskeɪp/ [countable noun]
a painting or photograph showing an area of countryside :
▪ ‘What kind of photographs do you take?’ ‘Mostly landscapes, and some portraits.’
landscape painter/artist/photographer
▪ Constable is probably England’s most famous landscape artist.
▷ study /ˈstʌdi/ [countable noun]
a small detailed drawing, especially one which is done in order to prepare for a larger picture, or as part of a series of drawings of the same kind of subject :
study of
▪ Renoir did several studies of small plants and flowers.
study for
▪ The exhibition includes a series of studies by Picasso for his painting Guernica.
▷ nude /njuːdǁnuːd/ [countable noun]
a picture of someone without any clothes on :
▪ To be honest, I prefer his flower pictures to his nudes.
▪ a nude by Picasso
2. a humorous drawing
▷ cartoon /kɑːʳˈtuːn/ [countable noun]
a humorous drawing, especially in a newspaper or a magazine, often with a joke written under it :
▪ The cartoon shows a group of elephants trying to get into a phone-box.
▪ a satirical cartoon that appears in the Washington Post
▷ caricature /ˈkærɪkətʃʊəʳ/ [countable noun]
a humorous drawing that makes certain parts of people’s faces or bodies seem larger or stranger than they really are, in order to make them look funny :
▪ We had our caricatures drawn by a street artist while we were on vacation in Turkey.
caricature of
▪ Politicians are used to having caricatures of themselves printed in newspapers.
3. a photograph
▷ photograph /ˈfəʊtəgrɑːfǁ-græf/ [countable noun]
a picture made using a camera :
photograph of
▪ Ansel Adams’ photographs of the American wilderness are now worth thousands of dollars.
take a photograph
▪ Visitors are not allowed to take photographs inside the Museum.
▪ My camera’s fully automatic and takes really good photographs.
somebody’s photograph
a photograph of someone
▪ I hate having my photograph taken.
wedding/passport/ graduation etc photograph
▪ The photographer asked all the guests to stand still and pose for the wedding photograph.
▷ photo/picture /ˈfəʊtəʊ, ˈpɪktʃəʳ/ [countable noun]
a photograph - use this especially when you are talking about photographs of you, your friends, your family, places you have visited etc :
▪ Karen showed me a picture of her new boyfriend -- he’s very good-looking!
take a photo/picture
▪ Did you take any good photos while you were in Paris?
somebody’s photo/picture
a photo or picture of someone
▪ Do you want me to take your photo?
▪ I saw her picture in the paper the other day.
▷ snap especially British /snapshot especially American /snæp, ˈsnæpʃɒtǁ-ʃɑːt/ [countable noun] informal
a photograph which you take yourself, for example of your family or on holiday, not one that is taken by a professional photographer :
▪ They’re just snapshots, but some of them are really good.
take a snap/snapshot
▪ Did you take any snaps in Greece?
snap of
▪ She showed me a snapshot of her three children.
holiday snaps
British
▪ Patrick was showing his holiday snaps to everyone in the office.
▷ shot /ʃɒtǁʃɑːt/ [countable noun]
a photograph that you take for a specific purpose, often one that you have to go to a particular place in order to take :
▪ I got some great shots of Mount Fuji with the sun setting behind it.
take a shot
▪ The cars went past so quickly that she only had time to take a couple of shots.
▷ mug shot /ˈmʌg ʃɒtǁ-ʃɑːt/ [countable noun] informal
a photograph of a criminal’s face, taken by the police :
▪ The police showed me some mug shots, and I had to say if any of them looked like the man who attacked me.
▷ photography /fəˈtɒgrəfiǁ-ˈtɑː-/ [uncountable noun]
the art or profession of taking photographs :
▪ Chris is studying photography at night school.
▪ an exhibition of Irwin Penn’s renowned fashion photography for Vogue magazine
4. what you see in a mirror, on a screen, or on water
▷ image /ˈɪmɪdʒ/ [countable noun]
a picture on the screen of a television, cinema, or computer :
▪ The images on a computer screen are made up of thousands of tiny dots.
▪ the flickering images of an old silent movie
▪ The digitized images can be stored on a computer hard disk, or printed out on special photographic paper.
▷ reflection /rɪˈflekʃ ə n/ [countable noun]
what you see when you look in a mirror or at the surface of water :
▪ Anna stood looking at her reflection in the mirror.
▪ the reflection of the moon on the surface of the lake
5. the front or back of a picture
▷ foreground /ˈfɔːʳgraʊnd/ [countable noun usually singular]
the nearest part of a scene in a picture or photograph :
in the foreground
▪ In the foreground of the picture is a man with a black beard, dressed in rough workingman’s clothes and a hat.
▷ background /ˈbækgraʊnd/ [countable noun usually singular]
the area behind something or someone in a picture or photograph :
in the background
▪ It was a photo of everyone in my class, with the school building in the background.