portray

English

Alternative forms

• pourtray

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle French portraire.

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /pɔɹˈtɹeɪ/
• Rhymes: -eɪ

Verb

portray (third-person singular simple present portrays, present participle portraying, simple past and past participle portrayed)

1. To paint or draw the likeness of.

   I will portray a king on horseback.

2. (figuratively) To describe in words; to convey.
3. To play a role; to depict a character, person, situation, or event.

   For my next movie, I will be portraying Shakespeare.

4. (obsolete) To adorn.

Related terms

• portrait
• portrayal

Translations

to paint or draw the likeness of

• French: dépeindre (fr), représenter (fr)
• Galician: retratar
• German: porträtieren (de), abmalen (de)
• Greek: απεικονίζω (el) (apeikonízo)
• Hungarian: megfest (hu)
• Malagasy: maneho an-tsary, mampiseho (mg)
• Polish: portretować (pl)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Portuguese: retratar (pt)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Roman: portretirati (sh)

• Sorbian:

  Lower Sorbian: wótmólowaś impf

• Spanish: retratar (es)

figuratively: to describe in words

• French: décrire (fr)
• German: porträtieren (de)
• Hungarian: leír (hu), lefest (hu)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Korean: 묘사하다 (ko) (myosahada)
• Polish: portretować (pl), opisywać (pl)
• Spanish: describir (es)

Anagrams

• Praytor, parroty