paint
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
payntIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈpeɪnt
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
A substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating
“Artists use `paint' and `pigment' interchangeably.”
A substance that is applied as a liquid or paste, and dries into a solid coating that protects or adds colour to an object or surface to which it has been applied.
in the plural
A set of containers or blocks of paint of different colors/colours, used for painting pictures.
basketballslang
The free-throw lane, construed with the.
Makeup consisting of a pink or red powder applied to the cheeks
The appearance of an object on a radar screen.
verb
intransitive
To color one's face by way of beautifying it.
transitivefiguratively
To depict or portray.
Apply paint to; coat with paint
Apply a liquid to; e.g., paint the gutters with linseed oil
transitive
To apply in the manner that paint is applied.
transitive
To cover (something) with spots of colour, like paint.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Everyday English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating
Used this way, paint is a common word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
“Artists use `paint' and `pigment' interchangeably.”
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- 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 paint
- “He painted all day in the garden.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Inflected forms
Grammatical variations of the same word.
Coated with paint.
An artist who paints.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Spring-flowering garden perennial of Asiatic origin having finely divided aromatic leaves and white to pink-purple flowers.
A desert on a high plateau in northeastern Arizona.
Greenling with whitish body marked with black bands.
Poinsettia of United States and eastern Mexico.
Any of numerous usually rhizomatous hybrid begonias derived from an East Indian plant having rough-textured leaves patterned in silver and bronze and purple and red-brown with inconspicuous…
Perennial aromatic herb of southeastern Asia having large usually bright-colored or blotched leaves and spikes of blue-violet flowers.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Graphic art consisting of an artistic composition made by applying paints to a surface.
A brush used as an applicator (to apply paint).
A painting of a naked human figure.
A picture painted with oil paints.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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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.