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picture shapes, lines etc painted or drawn on a surface, especially as a piece of art, and often showing what someone or something looks like: • a picture of a horse • He painted the picture in 1890, just before he died. drawing a picture drawn with a pencil, pen etc: • We had to do a drawing of a sunflower. sketch a picture that is drawn quickly: • I made a quick sketch of the kind of room we wanted. painting a picture made using paint: • The painting now hangs in the Museum of Modern Art. • Picasso did several paintings of her. portrait a picture of a person: • The portrait was painted by Rembrandt. landscape a picture of a place, especially in the countryside or the mountains: • Constable painted mainly landscapes. cartoon a funny drawing in a newspaper or magazine that tells a story or a joke: • A cartoon in the New York Times showed the President talking to Osama Bin Laden. comic strip a series of pictures drawn inside boxes that tell a story: • Charles Schultz was famous for his cartoon strip about Snoopy and Charlie Brown. caricature a funny drawing of someone that makes a part of someone’s face or body look bigger, worse etc than it really is, especially in a funny way: • He is famous for his caricatures of politicans. illustration a picture in a book: • The book has over 100 pages of illustrations, most of them in colour. poster a large picture printed on paper that you stick to a wall as decoration: • old movie posters • There were lots of posters of pop bands on her bedroom wall. print a picture that is usually produced on a printing press , and is one of a series of copies of the same picture: • a limited edition of lithographic prints by John Lennon image a picture – used especially when talking about what the picture is like, or the effect it has on you: • He produced some memorable images. • a beautiful image • Some of the images are deeply disturbing. artwork pictures or photographs, especially ones that have been produced to be used in a book or magazine: • We are still waiting for the artwork to come back from the printers.
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noun painting/drawing/photograph ADJ. attractive, beautiful, lovely, striking, stunning, wonderful | blurred | black and white, colour | posed VERB + PICTURE draw, paint | colour in The book has simple stories and pictures to colour in. | frame, hang, mount | display, exhibit, show | pose for, sit for | get, snap, take I got some good pictures of the procession. | touch up PICTURE + VERB depict sth, show sth | hang PICTURE + NOUN frame | book, postcard | gallery | hook, rail | editor PREP. in a/the ~ I can't see you in the picture. The story is told in pictures. | ~ of It's a picture of a country village.ART mental image ADJ. vivid The book gives a vivid picture of life in Victorian England. | clear | complete, comprehensive, full, general, overall, total, whole The programme was interesting but it didn't give the full picture. | incomplete | broad My visits enabled me to build up a broad picture of the culture. | composite Through interviews and old photos we put together a composite picture of life in the village a hundred years ago. | accurate, balanced, realistic, representative, true | false, misleading, one-sided, over-simplified, unbalanced | idealized, optimistic, rosy | bleak, depressing, dismal, gloomy, grim, negative The report paints a dismal picture of the government's economic record. | confused, distorted | detailed | complex, complicated | disturbing | mental I tried to form a mental picture of the building being described. | historical VERB + PICTURE build (up), construct, create, develop, establish, form, gain, get, obtain, put together They're trying to build up a detailed picture of the incident. | give, paint, present, project, reveal The figures reveal a disturbing picture of the state of our schools. | complete | conjure up The smell of the sea conjures up pictures of children playing on the beach. PICTURE + VERB emerge What emerges is a complex picture of family rivalry.
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picture verbs draw/paint a picture • She drew a picture of a mushroom on the blackboard. do a picture of somebody/something (= draw or paint a picture ) • He’s done a picture of a monster. a picture hangs somewhere • Three pictures hung on the wall over his bed. a picture shows something formal • The picture shows two women leaning down towards a third. a picture is of somebody/something (= used to talk about what a picture shows ) • There's a picture of his wife above the fireplace. picture 2 adjectives a clear/good picture • He still didn’t have a clear picture of what had happened. a vivid picture (= very clear ) • Their diaries give us a vivid picture of their lives at the time. an accurate/true picture • Our aim is to build an accurate picture of the needs of disabled people. a distorted/misleading picture (= one that is not accurate ) • The media coverage left many people with a distorted picture. • These figures give a misleading picture of the company’s financial health. a detailed picture • We now have a detailed picture of the bird’s habits. a complete/full picture • By asking these questions, I was able to get a more complete picture. an overall/general picture • The study is intended to provide an overall picture of political activity in the nation. a bleak/gloomy/grim picture (= giving the impression that something is or will be bad ) • The report paints a bleak picture of the economy. a rosy picture (= giving the impression that something is or will be good ) • That figure paints a misleadingly rosy picture. verbs have a picture • I've never been there, but I have a picture of it in my mind. a picture emerges (= becomes clear ) • No clear picture emerges from the studies. get a picture • Scientists have been trying to get a better picture of how the drug works. build up/form a picture (= gradually get an idea of what something is like ) • Detectives are still trying to build up a picture of what happened. give/provide a picture • Her book gives us an interesting picture of ordinary people’s homes at the time. present a picture • Newspapers tend to present a grim picture of what's going on in the world. paint a picture (= create a particular idea or impression, especially one that is not accurate ) • The latest survey paints a grim picture.