Photograph Meaning
/ˈfəʊ.təˌɡɹɑːf/Definition, CEFR level A2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounA picture created by projecting an image onto a photosensitive surface such as a chemically treated plate or film, CCD receptor, etc.
verbTo take a photograph (of).
Sentence Examples
Did you have your photograph taken for the driver's license?
The photograph brought back memories of my childhood.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old ____ showed my grandparents on their wedding day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The journalist took a powerful ____ that captured the human cost of the conflict.
Word Origin & History
Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *bʰeh₂- Proto-Indo-European *bʰéh₂os Proto-Hellenic *pʰáwos Ancient Greek φᾰ́ος (phắos) Ancient Greek φῶς (phôs) Ancient Greek φωτο- (phōto-)der. English photo- Proto-Indo-European *gerbʰ- Proto-Hellenic *grə́pʰō Ancient Greek γράφω (gráphō) Ancient Greek -γρᾰ́φος (-grắphos)der. English -graph English photograph From photo- + -graph.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"The hundredodd pages of photographs provide superb iconography of artistic collaboration and its rewards."
— 1975 May 4, Dale Harris, “Merce Cunningham”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 26 Apr 2024:
"A photograph showing a column of tenodd cars with black registration plates moving along an empty highway on their way to Subotica, […]"
— 1994 February 21, Dejan Anastasijevic, “VREME: The Front Page: The Departure”, in TOL, archived from the original on 28 Oct 2020:
"Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story."
— 2012 March 26, Brian Hayes, “Pixels or Perish”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 2, archived from the original on 19 Feb 2013, page 106:
"He makes his pen drawing on white paper, and they are afterwards photographed on wood."
— 1891, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, The Graphic Arts: A Treatise on the Varieties of Drawing:
"The boy who made headlines when he was photographed hugging an officer during a 2014 protest against police brutality is missing after his family’s SUV plunged 100 feet off a coastal highway in California, officials said Wednesday."
— 2018 March 28, Melissa Gray, “Boy in viral hug photo missing after family’s car plunges off cliff”, in CNN:
Explore More A2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The old ____ showed my grandparents on their wedding day.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The journalist took a powerful ____ that captured the human cost of the conflict.