to paint a picture
58
3.7
- idiom
:
describir
- And so I really want, you know, if you had to paint a picture in your mind, what does the ideal school or education look like?
- paint a different picture
- paint a bleak picture
- paint a complete picture
But can you paint a picture of how much dust is in the air?
- But can you paint a picture of how much dust is in the air?
- I want to kind of paint a picture of why the heck we're doing this.
- DJTJ painted a picture of a brighter America.
- It's like, here's what next year looks like and trying to paint a picture of what we want.
- And that's fine because I don't want to paint a picture of life being that way when it's not.
- I'm not trying to paint a picture to you that that comes off like I'm Gandhi.
- What they do is they paint a picture about themselves to convince the other person that they're credible.
- So what is there an interesting way to paint a picture of the disagreement you have with Richard through the years?
Examples
-
Now let me paint a picture for you here.
-
The news media clearly paint an unflattering picture of music education.
Academic text (2011) -
All right, let me paint a picture for you.
-
But first, allow me, as it were, to paint a picture for you.
-
Maybe I should paint a picture.
-
I do not mean to paint too dark a picture of the future.
Academic text (2002) -
We're all happy to be here and I'm going to paint a picture for you.
Fiction book (2000) -
Paint the judges a picture of the America that will exist if they rule the wrong way.
-
Other lawyers looking for work, however, paint a bleaker picture of the current job market.
Academic text (2003) -
During the meeting, she began to paint a picture of the project timeline and its key milestones.
Synonyms
∞
1.0
To use words to show what a person or thing is like
301
3.5
To explain something using pictures or examples
176
3.5
To show something in a picture or in words
1
9.9
To show something clearly and with detail in painting or writing
Antonyms
How Vivid
64
3.7
71
4.8
182
3.9
58
3.7
∞
1.0
∞
1.0
Surface Forms
Morphology
The sense 'to describe someone or something in detail' is a metaphorical extension of the literal meanings of 'paint' (to make an image) and 'picture' (a formed image), so a learner who knows the words can plausibly infer that the phrase means creating a vivid mental image. Because the meaning relies on a conventionalized metaphor rather than strictly compositional rules (though it is widely used and cross-linguistically paralleled), it is partly predictable but not fully literal.
Etymology
Paint a picture comes from the simple act of painting: when an artist paints a picture, they add color and small details so people can 'see' a scene in their minds. So, to paint a picture with words means 'to describe something clearly and vividly'.