depict

English

Etymology

Borrowed from Latin dēpictus, from dēpingō.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /dɪˈpɪkt/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ɪkt

Verb

depict (third-person singular simple present depicts, present participle depicting, simple past and past participle depicted)

1. To render a representation of something, using words, sounds, images, or other means. [from early 15th c.]

   Synonyms: portray, express, exhibit, register, show, describe, visualise, draw, render, depicture

   • 1639, Thomas Fuller, The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Book 4, Chapter 12, p. 189,^[1]

     And by [these Embassadours] he sent to their master a Tent, wherein the history of the Bible was as richly as curiously depicted in needle-work;

   • 1770, Thomas Chatterton, The Auction, a Poem: A Familiar Epistle to a Friend, London: George Kearsly, p. ,^[2]

     The Spring, when all its beauties rise,

     I see depicted in your eyes

   • 1851, George Borrow, chapter XXIV, in Lavengro; the Scholar—the Gypsy—the Priest. […], volume II, London: John Murray […], →OCLC, page 212:

     At first, I believe, I answered her very incoherently, for I observed alarm beginning to depict itself upon her countenance.

   • 1984, Lawrence Starr, "Toward a Reevaluation of Gershwin's Porgy and Bess," American Music, vol. 2, no. 2, p. 27,

     The well-known words depict a woman seeking sanctuary in a love relationship form a brutal, rapacious man.

   • 1987, Niall O'Loughlin, "Music Reviews: 20th-century guitar," The Musical Times, vol. 128, no. 1734, p. 443,

     Here the music depicts the delicate pattern of ice on windows.

   • 1994, E. Pennisi, "Breathe (xenon) deeply to see lungs clearly," Science News, vol. 146, no. 5, p. 70 (caption),

     False-color computer images depict lungs removed from a mouse.

Usage notes

The subjects of the verb include words, music and images.

Related terms

• depiction
• depictive

Translations

to render a representation of something — see also describe

• Bulgarian: описвам (bg) (opisvam), изобразявам (bg) (izobrazjavam)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 描繪／描绘 (zh) (miáohuì), 描绘 (zh) (miáohuì), 描述 (zh) (miáoshù)

• Dutch: afbeelden (nl), beschrijven (nl)
• Esperanto: figuri, prezenti (eo)
• Estonian: kujutama
• Finnish: kuvata (fi)
• French: représenter (fr), décrire (fr)
• German: darstellen (de), beschreiben (de), abbilden (de)
• Hungarian: lerajzol (hu), lefest (hu), leír (hu), ábrázol (hu)
• Ido: deskriptar (io), piktar (io), reprezentar (io)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Interlingua: depinger
• Italian: rappresentare (it), raffigurare (it)
• Japanese: 描く (ja) (かく, kaku)
• Malayalam: ചിത്രീകരിക്കുക (ml) (citrīkarikkuka)
• Norwegian: skildre, avbilde, forestille (no), beskrive (no)

  Bokmål: fremstille

  Nynorsk: framstille, framstilla, skildra, avbilda, beskriva

• Portuguese: representar (pt), retratar (pt) m, descrever (pt)
• Romanian: înfățișa (ro), descrie (ro), picta (ro), ilustra (ro), reprezenta (ro)
• Russian: изобража́ть (ru) impf (izobražátʹ), изобрази́ть (ru) pf (izobrazítʹ), обрисо́вывать (ru) impf (obrisóvyvatʹ), обрисова́ть (ru) pf (obrisovátʹ), опи́сывать (ru) impf (opísyvatʹ), описа́ть (ru) pf (opisátʹ)
• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wótmólowaś pf

• Spanish: representar (es), retratar (es), describir (es)
• Swedish: framställa (sv), skildra (sv)
• Turkish: tasvir etmek (tr)

Adjective

depict (not comparable)

1. (obsolete) Depicted.
   • Early 1400s, John Lydgate, “The Concords of Company” in James Orchard Halliwell (ed.), A Selection from the Minor Poems of Dan John Lydgate, London: The Percy Society, 1840, p. 177,^[3]

     I fond a lyknesse depict upon a wal,

     Armed in vertues, as I walk up and doun,

     The hed of thre ful solempne and roial,

     Intellectus, memorye, and resoun;