painting

noun

paint·​ing ˈpān-tiŋ How to pronounce painting (audio)
1
: a product of painting
especially : a work produced through the art of painting
2
: the art or occupation of painting

Examples of painting in a Sentence

They hung the painting in the living room. The woman in that painting is my grandmother. I like painting more than sculpture. He is studying abstract painting. She wants to devote all her time to painting. The room is ready for painting.
Recent Examples on the Web One showed Lilly’s painting hanging in the baron’s private dressing room. Kevin Rector, Los Angeles Times, 5 Mar. 2024 The charity is exhibiting the painting—The Return of the Buffalo Herd—in honor of the book’s 130th anniversary. Julia Binswanger, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024 Collectively, the paintings and the drawings that Murrell has chosen are, no matter their pathos, a paean to the joys of Black life, to community, to togetherness. Hilton Als, The New Yorker, 4 Mar. 2024 The castle was also decorated with cherubs, miniature renaissance paintings and silk flowers. Erin Clack, Peoplemag, 4 Mar. 2024 Artists from the San Dieguito Art Guild will be in the gardens — showing and selling their paintings, ceramics, glass, gourd art, fiber arts, photography, jewelry and more. Union-Tribune Staff, San Diego Union-Tribune, 2 Mar. 2024 Shaw’s paintings constitute a very modern form of horror vacui. Sebastian Smee, Washington Post, 1 Mar. 2024 The ranch also has a separate 2,000-square-foot art studio and a 2,700-square-foot art gallery with museum-quality lighting, where Marconi, an artist who created a technique called color fusion, would hang his paintings. Emma Reynolds, Robb Report, 23 Feb. 2024 My feet are throbbing, and my head is giddily swimming with images of Dalí’s mind-bending paintings, fantastical shapes of Chihuly glass, and murals portraying everything from pressing social issues to a ginormous shark ready to devour passersby. Angela Caraway-Carlton, Miami Herald, 23 Feb. 2024

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'painting.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of painting was in the 13th century

Dictionary Entries Near painting

Cite this Entry

“Painting.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/painting. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

painting

noun
paint·​ing
1
: a painted work of art
2
: the art or occupation of painting

More from Merriam-Webster on painting

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