iconography
noun
Simple meaning
The art of representation by pictures or images.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
eyekuhnahgruhfeeSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
aɪkəˈnɑɡɹəfi
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
The art of representation by pictures or images; the description or study of portraiture or representation, as of persons.
The images and symbolic representations that are traditionally associated with a person or a subject
A set of specified or traditional symbolic forms associated with the subject or theme of a stylized genre of art.
The study of representative art in general.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
- Frequency
- Rare
- Formality
- Technical
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: The art of representation by pictures or images; the description or study of portraiture or representation, as of persons.
Used this way, iconography is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use iconography
- “Religious iconography.”noun
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Common Patterns and Combinations
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Related Words
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.