DEPICT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does depict mean? 

• DEPICT (verb)
  The verb DEPICT has 3 senses:

1. show in, or as in, a picture

2. give a description of

3. make a portrait of

  Familiarity information: DEPICT used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• DEPICT (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they depict    ... he / she / it depicts   
Past simple: depicted   
Past participle: depicted   
-ing form: depicting   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Show in, or as in, a picture

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

depict; picture; render; show

Context example:

the face of the child is rendered with much tenderness in this painting

Hypernyms (to "depict" is one way to...):

interpret; represent (create an image or likeness of)

Domain category:

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "depict"):

illustrate (depict with an illustration)

map (depict as if on a map)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

depicting (a representation by picture or portraiture)

depiction (representation by drawing or painting etc)

depictive (depicted in a recognizable manner)

picture (a visual representation (of an object or scene or person or abstraction) produced on a surface)

picture (illustrations used to decorate or explain a text)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give a description of

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Synonyms:

depict; describe; draw

Context example:

He drew an elaborate plan of attack

Hypernyms (to "depict" is one way to...):

exposit; expound; set forth (state)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "depict"):

represent (describe or present, usually with respect to a particular quality)

delineate (describe in vivid detail)

adumbrate; outline; sketch (describe roughly or briefly or give the main points or summary of)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody
Something ----s something

Derivation:

depiction; picture (a graphic or vivid verbal description)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Make a portrait of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

depict; limn; portray

Context example:

Goya wanted to portray his mistress, the Duchess of Alba

Hypernyms (to "depict" is one way to...):

interpret; represent (create an image or likeness of)

Domain category:

art; artistic creation; artistic production (the creation of beautiful or significant things)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

depicting; depiction (a representation by picture or portraiture)

depictive (depicted in a recognizable manner)

picture (graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface)

 Context examples 

The model depicts b-arrestin scaffolding of the ERK1/2 MAP kinase cascade, based upon data obtained with the protease-activated PAR2 and angiotensin AT1a receptors.

(MAP Kinase Activation Pathway, NCI Thesaurus/BIOCARTA)

That one word, my dear Watson, should have told me the whole story had I been the ideal reasoner which you are so fond of depicting.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The Milky Way looks nothing like the flat space pancake it is usually depicted as.

(Scientists Say Milky Way Is Warped & Twisted Not Flat, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The researchers collected images depicting metastases where breast cancer had spread beyond the original tumors.

(Tell-tale biomarker detects early breast cancer, NIH)

It would require a painter, and no common painter too, to depict my aunt's face as she delivered herself of this very unexpected sentiment, and Miss Murdstone's face as she heard it.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

It was inevitable that Milton’s Lucifer should be instanced, and the keenness with which Wolf Larsen analysed and depicted the character was a revelation of his stifled genius.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

This discipline depicts the physiological states of cells and organisms by focusing on carbohydrates, lipids, and other metabolites.

(Metabolomics, NCI Thesaurus)

In 2004, Japanese researchers originally discovered that the Shisa gene played a role in the formation of frog heads and, named the gene after a mythological, large-headed, guardian figure depicted in statues throughout southern Japan.

(‘Sticky’ gene may help Valium calm nerves, National Institutes of Health)

But much as she liked to write for children, Jo could not consent to depict all her naughty boys as being eaten by bears or tossed by mad bulls because they did not go to a particular Sabbath school, nor all the good infants who did go as rewarded by every kind of bliss, from gilded gingerbread to escorts of angels when they departed this life with psalms or sermons on their lisping tongues.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

The choicest tapestries which the looms of Arras could furnish draped the walls, whereon the battles of Judas Maccabaeus were set forth, with the Jewish warriors in plate of proof, with crest and lance and banderole, as the naive artists of the day were wont to depict them.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)