sculpture
noun · verb
Simple meaning
A three-dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
skuhlpcherSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈskʌlptʃɚ
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
countable
A three-dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock (sculpting).
countable
More generally (since modernism), a three-dimensional work of art of any material or of mixed materials, whether sculpted, assembled, found, constructed or created using multiple techniques.
verb
To fashion something into a three-dimensional figure.
To change the shape of a land feature by erosion etc.
To represent something in sculpture.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- B1 · Intermediate (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- General English
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A three-dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock (sculpting).
Used this way, sculpture 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 sculpture
- “A beautiful new sculpture was unveiled in the city park.”
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Word family
Words built from the same root.
Related to A three-dimensional work of art created by shaping malleable objects and letting them harden or by chipping away pieces from a rock (sculpting).
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Sculpture produced by molding.
A statue of a naked human figure.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
Sculpture consisting of shapes carved on a surface so as to stand out from the surrounding background.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
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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.