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brush stroke

brush stroke

7 3.3
A mark made by a brush in a painting
  • noun
translation icon : pincelada
  • His lush brush strokes and confident pencil marks remind us just how special the familiar is.
  • a single brush stroke

We copied stroke for stroke the heavy brush strokes of our capable instructor.

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Examples

  • To the trained eye it's obvious that the brush strokes were not those of the master.

  • "One cannot duplicate any one brush stroke exactly," she said.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • At first I could kind of see the brush strokes going through it, but now it's all working into the skin.

  • You get close, and you see those brush strokes, right?

  • If you look closely, you can see brush strokes.

  • These tiny little brush strokes are clearly visible here.

  • A brush stroke is as unique as a fingerprint.

  • Without thinking, she began to sing softly as she counted the brush strokes.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • From his window, the sky is painted with Vincent's signature short brush strokes of thick impasto.

  • In his latest painting, the artist used bold brush strokes to create a sense of movement.

Synonyms

stroke
vsbrush stroke
77 3.7

A single hitting or moving action in sports, art and writing

is specific to a paint mark within a picture rather than any tool movement
brushstroke
vsbrush stroke
7 4.0

A mark or line made by a paintbrush that shows the artist's style

is a simple painted mark not focused on the artist's personal style
bold line
vsbrush stroke
1 3.7

A strong clear line in drawing or painting that shows shape and makes parts stand out

is a simple painted line not necessarily strong or used for emphasis

How Broad

sweep
165 3.5
wash
  • Specialized
10 6.7
brush stroke
7 3.3
dot
228 1.0

Surface Forms

brush stroke singular
brush strokes plural

Morphology

brush + stroke

The meaning 'a mark or line made by a brush' is directly derivable from combining 'brush' (the instrument) with 'stroke' (a single mark or motion); the constituents together transparently specify the concept. This simple noun–noun compositional pattern is common across languages and should be clear to a B1 learner who knows both words.

Etymology

Brush stroke comes from the simple image of a brush making a single stroke of paint across a canvas. That clear line shows the artist's movement, so it means 'a mark or line made by a brush'.