picture
[noun]
Synonyms:
- representation, drawing, engraving, illustration, image, likeness, painting, photograph, portrait, print, sketch
- description, account, depiction, image, impression, report
- double, carbon copy, copy, dead ringer (slang), duplicate, image, likeness, lookalike, replica, spitting image (informal), twin
- personification, embodiment, epitome, essence
- film, flick (slang), motion picture, movie (U.S. informal)
[verb]
Synonyms:
- imagine, conceive of, envision, see, visualize
- represent, depict, draw, illustrate, paint, photograph, show, sketch

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Related Words: draw

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English Thesaurus: break, smash, snap, split, fracture, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

I. pic‧ture¹ S1 W1 /ˈpɪktʃə $ -ər/ 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 pretty²(7)

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

II. picture² 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.

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

picture
noun
I. painting/drawing/photograph
ADJ. attractive, beautiful, lovely, striking, stunning, wonderful | blurred | black and white, colour | posed
VERB + PICTURE draw, paint | colour in The book has simple stories and pictures to colour in.
frame, hang, mount | display, exhibit, show | pose for, sit for | get, snap, take I got some good pictures of the procession.
touch up
PICTURE + VERB depict sth, show sth | hang
PICTURE + NOUN frame | book, postcard | gallery | hook, rail | editor
PREP. in a/the ~ I can't see you in the picture. The story is told in pictures.
~ of It's a picture of a country village.
 ⇒ Note at ART

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

picture
II. mental image
ADJ. vivid The book gives a vivid picture of life in Victorian England. | clear | complete, comprehensive, full, general, overall, total, whole The programme was interesting but it didn't give the full picture.
incomplete | broad My visits enabled me to build up a broad picture of the culture.
composite Through interviews and old photos we put together a composite picture of life in the village a hundred years ago.
accurate, balanced, realistic, representative, true | false, misleading, one-sided, over-simplified, unbalanced | idealized, optimistic, rosy | bleak, depressing, dismal, gloomy, grim, negative The report paints a dismal picture of the government's economic record.
confused, distorted | detailed | complex, complicated | disturbing | mental I tried to form a mental picture of the building being described.
historical
VERB + PICTURE build (up), construct, create, develop, establish, form, gain, get, obtain, put together They're trying to build up a detailed picture of the incident.
give, paint, present, project, reveal The figures reveal a disturbing picture of the state of our schools. | complete | conjure up The smell of the sea conjures up pictures of children playing on the beach.
PICTURE + VERB emerge What emerges is a complex picture of family rivalry.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

picture

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.
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.
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.
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.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

break verb [transitive] to damage something and make it separate into pieces, for example by dropping it or hitting it:
Careful you don’t break the chair.
He broke his leg.
smash verb [transitive] to break something with a lot of force:
A policeman smashed his camera.
snap verb [transitive] to break something into two pieces, making a loud noise – used especially about long thin objects:
He snapped the sticks in two.
split verb [transitive] to separate something into two pieces along a straight line:
Using a sharp knife, split the melon in half.
fracture verb [transitive] to damage a bone, especially so that a line appears on the surface:
I fell over and fractured my wrist.
tear /teə $ ter/ verb [transitive] to damage paper or cloth by pulling it so that it separates into pieces:
She tore up the letter and put it in the bin.
I tore my jacket.
photograph a picture taken using a camera:
Visitors are not allowed to take photographs inside the museum.
our wedding photographs
photo informal a photograph:
a way of displaying your digital photos
Do you want me to take your photo?
picture a photograph of someone or something:
I saw her picture in the paper the other day.
This is a really good picture of Sarah.
Can I take your picture?
shot informal a photograph – used especially by people who often take photographs:
I got some great shots of Mount Fuji.
It's a lovely shot.
print a photograph that has been printed on photographic paper:
a set of 4 by 6 inch prints

[TahlilGaran] English 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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
When I saw the walls moving, I thought I must be hallucinating.
dream the thoughts, images, and feelings that go through your mind while you are asleep:
I had a strange dream last night -- you and I were in some sort of forest.
nightmare a very unpleasant and frightening dream:
She still has terrible nightmares about the accident.
reverie formal a state of imagining or thinking about pleasant things, that is like dreaming:
The doorbell rang, shaking her from her reverie.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲

photograph a picture taken using a camera:
Visitors are not allowed to take photographs inside the museum.
our wedding photographs
photo informal a photograph:
a way of displaying your digital photos
Do you want me to take your photo?
picture a photograph of someone or something:
I saw her picture in the paper the other day.
This is a really good picture of Sarah.
Can I take your picture?
snap British English informal, snapshot especially American English a photograph that you take quickly and without thinking carefully about how it will look, for example when you are on holiday:
Patrick showed me his holiday snaps.
She showed me a snapshot of her three children.
shot informal a photograph – used especially by people who often take photographs:
I got some great shots of Mount Fuji.
It's a lovely shot.
print a photograph that has been printed on photographic paper:
a set of 4 by 6 inch prints
take a photograph
He wanted to take a photograph of me.
get a photograph (=take one successfully)
I got some brilliant photographs of the desert.
a colour photograph
The book is fully illustrated with colour photographs.
a black-and-white photograph
a digital photograph
a framed photograph
On the desk was a framed photograph of a woman.
a signed photograph
He keeps a signed photograph of Bill Clinton in his office.
a wedding photograph
Your wedding photographs will keep the memories of the big day alive for you.
an aerial photograph (=one taken from a plane)
Aerial photographs can be used to locate archaeological sites.
faded
All her life she kept a faded photograph of him in his army uniform.
blurred
He was shown a blurred photograph, taken from a moving car.
grainy (=with a rough, not sharp, appearance)
I stared at the grainy newspaper photograph, searching for my mother.
sepia (=used about a black and white photograph that has shades of brown, in a way that is typical of old photographs)
an 1854 sepia photograph of Jonathan Pickering, the company founder
a photograph album (=a book in which you put photographs)
Mama kept a photograph album full of pictures of her family.

[TahlilGaran] English 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
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.
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
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.
a beautiful image
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.
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.
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.
The finished house may be hard to visualize.
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?
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.
When I saw the walls moving, I thought I must be hallucinating.

[TahlilGaran] English Thesaurus ▲