visual

English

Alternative forms

• visuall (obsolete, rare)

Etymology

From Middle English vysual, from Old French, from Late Latin visualis (“of sight”), from Latin visus (“sight”), from videre (“to see”), past participle visus; see visage.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪʒʊəl/, /ˈvɪzjʊəl/, /ˈvɪʒəl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• IPA^(key): /ˈvɪʒuəl/, /ˈvɪʒwəl/

Adjective

visual (comparative more visual, superlative most visual)

1. Related to or affecting the vision.
   • 2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206-7:

     Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close […] above vegetation and effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the leaves and stems around them. Many insects probably use this strategy, which is a close analogy to crypsis in the visible world—camouflage and other methods for blending into one’s visual background.

2. (obsolete) That can be seen; visible.

Derived terms

• audiovisual
• visualization
• visualize
• visually
• visual poem
• VLOS

 

Related terms

• envisage
• evidence
• visage
• visible
• vision
• visionary

 

Translations

related to or affecting the vision

• Arabic: بَصَرِيّ (baṣariyy)
• Asturian: visual
• Belarusian: візуа́льны (vizuálʹny)
• Bulgarian: визуален (vizualen), зрителен (zritelen)
• Catalan: visual (ca)
• Czech: zrakový (cs)
• Danish: visuel
• Dutch: visueel (nl)
• Finnish: visuaalinen (fi)
• French: visuel (fr)
• Galician: visual
• Georgian: ვიზუალური (vizualuri), მხედველობითი (mxedvelobiti), ოპტიკური (oṗṭiḳuri)
• German: visuell (de)
• Greek:

  Ancient: ὀπτικός (optikós)

• Hungarian: vizuális (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Ido: vidala (io)
• Indonesian: visual (id)
• Italian: visuale (it)
• Latin: visualis, oculorum
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: visuell

  Nynorsk: visuell

• Polish: wizualny (pl)
• Portuguese: visual (pt)
• Russian: зри́тельный (ru) (zrítelʹnyj), визуа́льный (ru) (vizuálʹnyj)
• Serbo-Croatian: vidni
• Spanish: visual (es)
• Tagalog: tanawin (tl)
• Ukrainian: зорови́й (zorovýj), візуа́льний (vizuálʹnyj)

Noun

visual (plural visuals)

1. Any element of something that depends on sight.
   • 2016, S. C. Sterling, Teenage Degenerate (page 5)

     It wasn't the first time I pulled an all-nighter, but normally I was coming off an acid trip and still seeing visuals dancing around in my head.

2. An image; a picture; a graphic.
3. (in the plural) All the visual elements of a multimedia presentation or entertainment, usually in contrast with normal text or audio.
4. (advertising) A preliminary sketch.

Derived terms

• have a visual on

Further reading

• “visual”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.
• “visual”, in The Century Dictionary […], New York, N.Y.: The Century Co., 1911, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• Auvils

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Asturian

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin visuālis, from Latin visus.

Adjective

visual (epicene, plural visuales)

1. visual

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Catalan

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin visuālis, from Latin visus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): (Central) [bi.zuˈal]
• IPA^(key): (Balearic, Valencia) [vi.zuˈal]
• Rhymes: -al

Adjective

visual m or f (masculine and feminine plural visuals)

1. visual

Derived terms

• audiovisual
• visualitzar
• visualment

Further reading

• “visual” in Diccionari de la llengua catalana, segona edició, Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
• “visual”, in Gran Diccionari de la Llengua Catalana, Grup Enciclopèdia Catalana, 2024
• “visual” in Diccionari normatiu valencià, Acadèmia Valenciana de la Llengua.
• “visual” in Diccionari català-valencià-balear, Antoni Maria Alcover and Francesc de Borja Moll, 1962.

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Galician

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin visuālis, from Latin visus.

Adjective

visual m or f (plural visuais)

1. visual

Derived terms

• visualmente

Further reading

• “visual”, in Dicionario da Real Academia Galega (in Galician), A Coruña: Royal Galician Academy, 2012–2024

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Indonesian

Etymology

From Late Latin visualis (“of sight”), from Latin visus (“sight”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): [viˈsual]
• Hyphenation: vi‧su‧al

Adjective

visual

1. visual
   1. related to or affecting the vision.
   2. that can be seen; visible.

Derived terms

• memvisualkan (“to visualise”)
• pemvisualan (“visualisation”)

 

Further reading

• “visual” in Kamus Besar Bahasa Indonesia, Jakarta: Agency for Language Development and Cultivation – Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia, 2016.

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Piedmontese

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /viˈzɥal/

Noun

visual f (plural visuaj)

1. view

Adjective

visual

1. visual

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Portuguese

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin visuālis, from Latin visus.

Pronunciation

• (Brazil) IPA^(key): /vi.zuˈaw/ [vi.zʊˈaʊ̯], (faster pronunciation) /viˈzwaw/ [viˈzwaʊ̯]

 

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈzwal/ [viˈzwaɫ]

• (Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈzwal/ [viˈzwaɫ]
  • (Northern Portugal) IPA^(key): /biˈzwal/ [biˈzwaɫ]
  • (Southern Portugal) IPA^(key): /viˈzwa.li/

• Hyphenation: vi‧su‧al
• Rhymes: -al, -aw

Adjective

visual m or f (plural visuais)

1. visual

Derived terms

• audiovisual
• visualmente

Further reading

• “visual” in Dicionário Aberto based on Novo Diccionário da Língua Portuguesa de Cândido de Figueiredo, 1913

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Spanish

Etymology

Borrowed from Late Latin visuālis, from Latin visus.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /biˈswal/ [biˈswal]
• Hyphenation: vi‧sual

Adjective

visual m or f (masculine and feminine plural visuales)

1. visual

Derived terms

• audiovisual
• campo visual
• contacto visual
• visualmente

 

Further reading

• “visual”, in Diccionario de la lengua española, Vigésima tercera edición, Real Academia Española, 2014