PORTRAY

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does portray mean? 

• PORTRAY (verb)
  The verb PORTRAY has 4 senses:

1. portray in words

2. make a portrait of

3. assume or act the character of

4. represent abstractly, for example in a painting, drawing, or sculpture

  Familiarity information: PORTRAY used as a verb is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PORTRAY (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they portray    ... he / she / it portrays   
Past simple: portrayed   
Past participle: portrayed   
-ing form: portraying   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Portray in words

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Context example:

The book portrays the actor as a selfish person

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

represent (serve as a means of expressing something)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

portrait; portraiture; portrayal (a word picture of a person's appearance and character)

Sense 2

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 "portray" 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:

portraitist (a painter or drawer of portraits)

portraiture (the activity of making portraits)

portrayal; portraying (a representation by picture or portraiture)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Assume or act the character of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

impersonate; portray

Context example:

The actor portrays an elderly, lonely man

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

act; play; represent (play a role or part)

Domain category:

performing arts (arts or skills that require public performance)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s somebody

Derivation:

portrayal (acting the part of a character on stage; dramatically representing the character by speech and action and gesture)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Represent abstractly, for example in a painting, drawing, or sculpture

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Synonyms:

portray; present

Context example:

The father is portrayed as a good-looking man in this painting

Hypernyms (to "portray" 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 "portray"):

commend (present as worthy of regard, kindness, or confidence)

Sentence frames:

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

Derivation:

portraitist (a painter or drawer of portraits)

portraiture (the activity of making portraits)

portrayal (representation by drawing or painting etc)

portrayer (a painter or drawer of portraits)

portraying (a representation by picture or portraiture)

 Context examples 

At present she did not know her own poverty, for she had no lover to portray.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

The HISPANIOLA, in that unbroken mirror, was exactly portrayed from the truck to the waterline, the Jolly Roger hanging from her peak.

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

A chanting cherub adorned the cover of the sugar bucket, and attempts to portray Romeo and Juliet supplied kindling for some time.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was his nature to be communicative; he liked to open to a mind unacquainted with the world glimpses of its scenes and ways (I do not mean its corrupt scenes and wicked ways, but such as derived their interest from the great scale on which they were acted, the strange novelty by which they were characterised); and I had a keen delight in receiving the new ideas he offered, in imagining the new pictures he portrayed, and following him in thought through the new regions he disclosed, never startled or troubled by one noxious allusion.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Early science results from NASA’s Juno mission to Jupiter portray the largest planet in our solar system as a complex, gigantic, turbulent world, with Earth-sized polar cyclones, plunging storm systems that travel deep into the heart of the gas giant, and a mammoth, lumpy magnetic field that may indicate it was generated closer to the planet’s surface than previously thought.

(First Science Results from NASA’s Juno Mission, NASA)

Although the force of the wind on Mars is not as strong as portrayed in an early scene in the movie The Martian, dust lofted during storms could affect electronics and health, as well as the availability of solar energy.

(Study Predicts Next Global Dust Storm on Mars, NASA)

And in this was portrayed the victory of the spirit over the flesh, the indomitability and moral grandeur of the soul that knows no restriction and rises above time and space and matter with a surety and invincibleness born of nothing else than eternity and immortality.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

Recall the august yet harmonious lineaments, the Grecian neck and bust; let the round and dazzling arm be visible, and the delicate hand; omit neither diamond ring nor gold bracelet; portray faithfully the attire, aerial lace and glistening satin, graceful scarf and golden rose; call it 'Blanche, an accomplished lady of rank.'

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

The windows, to which she looked with peculiar dependence, from having heard the general talk of his preserving them in their Gothic form with reverential care, were yet less what her fancy had portrayed.

(Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen)

Beyond and above spread an expanse of sky, dark blue as at twilight: rising into the sky was a woman's shape to the bust, portrayed in tints as dusk and soft as I could combine.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)