• (RP) IPA: /ˈpɪktʃə/
• (America) IPA: /ˈpɪk(t)ʃɚ/
• (America, regional) IPA: /ˈpɪtʃɚ/

picture (plural pictures)

1. A representation of anything (as a person, a landscape, a building) upon canvas, paper, or other surface, by drawing, painting, printing, photography, etc.
   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter II, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175 ↗:

     Orion hit a rabbit once; but though sore wounded it got to the bury, and, struggling in, the arrow caught the side of the hole and was drawn out. […]. Ikey the blacksmith had forged us a spearhead after a sketch from a picture of a Greek warrior; and a rake-handle served as a shaft.

2. An image; a representation as in the imagination.

   • My eyes make pictures when they are shut.

   • 1908, W[illiam] B[lair] M[orton] Ferguson, chapter IV, in Zollenstein, New York, N.Y.: D. Appleton & Company, OCLC 731476803 ↗:

     So this was my future home, I thought! Certainly it made a brave picture. I had seen similar ones fired-in on many a Heidelberg stein. Backed by towering hills, […] a sky of palest Gobelin flecked with fat, fleecy little clouds, it in truth looked a dear little city; the city of one's dreams.

   • 2007, The Workers' Republic

     Prior to seeing him and meeting him, and hearing him speak, I had conjured up a picture of him in my mind, which actual contact with him proved to be an illusion. I had conceived of him […] as being tall, commanding, and as the advance notices of him, a sliver-tongued orator. I found him, however, to be the opposite of my mental picture; short, squat, unpretentious […].

3. A painting.

   There was a picture hanging above the fireplace.

4. A photograph.

   I took a picture of the church.

5. (informal, dated) A motion picture.

   Casablanca is my all-time favorite picture.

6. (in the plural, informal) ("the pictures") Cinema (as a form of entertainment).

   Let's go to the pictures.

7. A paragon, a perfect example or specimen (of a category).

   She's the very picture of health.

8. An attractive sight.

   The garden is a real picture at this time of year.

9. The art of painting; representation by painting.

   • any well-expressed image […] either in picture or sculpture

10. A figure; a model.

    • the young king's picture […] in virgin wax

11. Situation.

    The employment picture for the older middle class is not so good.

    You can't just look at the election, you've got to look at the big picture.

• (representation as in the imagination) image

• French: image
• German: Bild, Abbildung, Abbild, Gemälde
• Italian: quadro, immagine
• Portuguese: figura, imagem
• Russian: карти́на
• Spanish: imagen

• French: photo
• German: Foto, Bild
• Italian: fotografia, foto
• Portuguese: fotografia, foto
• Russian: фотогра́фия
• Spanish: foto, fotografía

• French: cinéma
• German: Kino, Film
• Portuguese: cinema
• Russian: кино́
• Spanish: cine

picture (pictures, present participle picturing; past and past participle pictured)

1. (transitive) To represent in or with a picture.
2. (transitive) To imagine or envision.
   • 1967, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds", released on Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

     Picture yourself on a boat on a river / With tangerine trees and marmalade skies,

3. (transitive) To depict or describe vividly.

• German: fotographieren, Foto

• German: etwas vorstellen

• depict
• depiction
• pictorial