portrayaln.
/pɔːˈtreɪəl/, U.S. /pɔrˈtreɪ(ə)l/ 1. A depiction or representation of something in speech, writing, thought, etc.; a graphic description.
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society > communication > representation > [noun]
picture?a1439
representingc1443
portraiturea1450
refigurationc1475
effigiation?1533
figuring1534
representation1579
picturing1585
representmentc1590
presentationa1616
portrayment?1650
iconism1656
importraiture1834
portrayal1836
rendition1959
the mind > language > speech > narration > description or act of describing > [noun] > graphic or vivid
pencilc1385
paintinga1400
portraiture?c1430
picturing1562
hypotyposis1570
presentment1633
portrayment?1650
scene painting1777
word painting1807
portrayal1836
pictorialism1869
1836 Southern Literary Messenger July (Suppl.) a521 A Lecture on Education..is devoted to a portrayal of the parental faults and misdemeanors.
1884 Times (Weekly ed.) 26 Sept. 6/2 Feeling genuine contempt for the pourtrayal of meanness, treachery, &c.
1923 Contemp. Rev. June 757 The Eldorado of story-tellers whose Fach is the portrayal of luxurious vice.
1977 M. Ashley Who's Who in Horror & Fantasy Fiction 103 His masterpiece of terror was The Castle of Ehrenstein (1854), a superb portrayal of a ghost-ridden castle.
2003 M. Bronski Pulp Friction iii. 166 It is rare in mainstream or pulp novels to see interracial love affairs or sympathetic portrayals of nonwhite communities.
2. The action of playing a character in a play, film, etc.; an actor's representation of a character or part.
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1846 Times 1 May 7/5 Lafont's impersonation of Austerlitz, the serjeant, is a masterly and graphic portrayal of the soldat de l'empire.
1864 Times 25 July 9/4 M. Faúre..is, on the whole, the best Peter we have seen; for though he may not impart such hearty vigour in his histrionic portrayal as Herr Formes, his delivery of the music is uniformly pointed, correct, and effective.
1920 Mansfield (Ohio) News 20 Dec. 9/1 The picture does not boast a star, but it would be difficult to imagine a better portrayal than that which is given by Helene Chadwick in the role of the girl who has so many wild experiences.
1969 L. Gish & A. Pinchot Lillian Gish xv. 222 Richard Barthelmess also received raves for his sensitive portrayal of Cheng.
1996 Time Out 31 July 130/3 It's left to Troughton's powerful portrayal of a credulous Norfolk squire..to drive the play through the great mess of plottage.
3. The action of portraying something by painting, drawing, photography, etc.; a pictorial representation, a picture, a portrait.
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society > leisure > the arts > visual arts > painting and drawing > [noun] > pictorial representation
portraiturea1393
portrayc1415
picture?a1439
similitudea1450
depicture?a1513
zography1570
picturing1585
description1590
delineament1593
delineation1594
delineature1611
depiction1688
zoography1814
portrayal1847
depicturing1850
depicturementa1866
pictorialism1869
depicting1885
pictorialization1901
picturization1913
1847 Times 14 Apr. 2/4 The William Van de Velde..is his celebrated portrayal of the British fleet endeavouring to force its way into La Rochelle.
1872 ‘Ouida’ Crayon Head (ed. Tauchn.) 82 It is a bad portrayal of [her] face.
1912 Catholic Encycl. XIV. 242/2 These windows present..symbolic portrayals of the dogmas of the Church.
1948 A. C. Kinsey et al. Sexual Behavior Human Male x. 373 Among the several thousand portrayals of human coitus in the art left by ancient civilizations, there is hardly a single portrayal of the English-American position.
1991 New Scientist 24 Aug. 55/1 A team of 20 artists is aiming to create the largest-ever pavement painting—a 30 by 18 metre portrayal of an Imperial Amazon Parrot.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2006; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1836