illustration
[noun]
Synonyms:
- example, case, instance, specimen
- picture, decoration, figure, plate, sketch

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English Thesaurus: example, case, instance, illustration, for example, ...

[TahlilGaran] English Synonym Dictionary ▲

il‧lus‧tra‧tion AC /ˌɪləˈstreɪʃən/ noun
[Word Family: noun: illustration, illustrator; verb: illustrate; adjective: illustrative]

1. [countable] a picture in a book, article etc, especially one that helps you to understand it:
The book contains 62 pages of illustrations.

2. [uncountable and countable] a story, event, action etc that shows the truth or existence of something very clearly
illustration of
a striking illustration of 19th-century attitudes to women
For the purposes of illustration, some of the more important symptoms are listed below.

3. [uncountable] the act or process of illustrating something

[TahlilGaran] Dictionary of Contemporary English ▲

illustration
noun
I. picture in a book etc.
ADJ. black and white, colour/coloured, full-colour | beautiful, lively The clear, lively illustrations are in full colour.
clear | book, cover
ILLUSTRATION + VERB show sth | accompany sth the illustrations accompanying the text
PREP. in an/the ~ The kite is assembled as shown in the illustration.
with an/the ~ | ~ by ‘The Black Cat’ by Alan Ahlberg, with illustrations by Arthur Robins

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

illustration
II. example
ADJ. good, excellent, perfect | clear, dramatic, graphic, striking, vivid These events are a graphic illustration of the fact that their promises cannot be trusted.
simple Let us take a very simple illustration.
classic
VERB + ILLUSTRATION serve as Chicago serves as an illustration of the problems faced by such cities.
give (sb), provide Explain the policy of detente and provide some illustrations of how it worked in practice.
take, use sth as/for I will use one recent example as an illustration.
PREP. as an ~ As an illustration of this point, I'm going to tell you a true story.
by way of ~ He quoted several famous writers by way of illustration.

[TahlilGaran] Collocations Dictionary ▲

example something that you mention because it is typical of the kind of thing that you are talking about:
The hall is a perfect example of medieval architecture.
There are many ways in which technology has changed our lives. The car is an obvious example.
This painting is a typical example of Picasso’s work in his Blue Period.
case an example of something that happens, especially something bad:
There have been some cases of women employees being fired because they are pregnant.
In one case a man was charged $2,000 for a simple medical check-up.
Recent government spending on schools is a classic case of too little, too late.
instance an example of a particular kind of situation or event, especially something bad. Instance is more formal than case:
Some users of Ecstasy have actually died, but such instances are very rare.
The report describes instances of discrimination.
In a few rare instances, the disease can cause death.
illustration something, especially a story or situation, that you use as an example:
As an illustration of this, consider the following example.
He mentioned the recent events in the Middle East by way of illustration (=as an example).
for example used when giving an example:
Prices have risen sharply. The price of gasoline, for example, has risen by over 50%.
Nepal has many attractions for visitors. For example, you can go trekking in the Himalayas, or see tigers in Chitwan National Park.
for instance used when giving an example. For instance is slightly less formal than for example and is used more in spoken English:
There were many unanswered questions. For instance, where was the money going to come from?
Some people are really good languages. Take Katie, for instance.
eg/e.g. written used when giving an example or a list of examples. Don’t use eg in formal writing – use the full phrase for example:
Make sure you eat foods that contain protein, e.g. meat, fish, eggs, milk, or cheese.
such as especially written used when giving one or two typical examples when there are many others:
It is difficult to get even basic foods such as bread and sugar.
take spoken used when giving a particular example as a way of proving that what you are saying is correct:
Take John – he has a good job but he didn’t go to university.
It is possible to recover from some types of cancer. Take skin cancer, for example.
be a case in point used when emphasizing that someone or something is a good or typical example of what you have just mentioned:
Some birds have returned to Britain after once being extinct here. The return of the osprey is a case in point.

[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 ▲