pencil
17
1.0
- noun
- /ˈpɛnsl/
:
lápiz
- The artist used a pencil to sketch the outline of the portrait on the canvas.
- pencil and paper
- colored pencil
- pencil drawing
Examples
-
Somebody is making a skillful pencil drawing on the corner of a sheet of lined notebook paper.
Fiction book (1996) -
On the plastic card attached to the balloon is a note scrawled in pencil: "EVERYONE OK"
Academic text (2005) -
You sit down with a piece of paper, a pencil, and you try to read it.
-
You have so much more control over a pencil than you know.
-
Here it is, in pencil.
-
There were many maps covered with red pencil lines marking the places he wanted to visit.
Fiction book (1996) -
I'm just trying to avoid smearing that pencil around too much.
-
This is kind of a thick pencil, sort of teardrop shaped.
-
Then our Annie took half the night to draw the seam up the back of me legs with a pencil.
-
Thus, some students had access to colored pencils or crayons, whereas others had only lead pencils.
Academic text (1996)
Synonyms
1
1.3
A pencil that uses graphite for writing or drawing
1
3.2
A thing that you use to write, like a pen or pencil
Compounds
- Specialized
A small paint brush with very soft hairs for painting fine details
- Specialized
An evergreen tree, like the eastern red cedar, whose wood is used to make pencils
- Archaic
A thin stick of soft stone that people use to write on a slate in old classrooms
How Precise
8
3.1
8
1.0
1
3.2
17
1.0
57
1.1
66
1.0
Surface Forms
Etymology
Pencil comes from the Latin penicillus, 'little tail', a name for a small brush that artists used, and that idea moved to the drawing material itself. That's why pencil can mean the medium (graphite) used for sketching and drawing.