cave painting
Syllables: cave paint·ing/ˈkeɪv ˈpeɪntɪŋ/
cave painting noun: the activity of applying pigments to the interior surfaces of caves to create images, especially when carried out in prehistoric times.
Noun
cave painting (countable and uncountable, plural cave paintings)
- The activity of applying pigments to the interior surfaces of caves to create images, especially when carried out in prehistoric times.
- For several decades, now, he [the modern artist] has taken the liberty of learning how to draw and compose by studying and borrowing ideas from the high periods in all art, as far back as prehistoric cave painting.1959, Erle Loran, Cézanne’s Composition: Analysis of His Form with Diagrams and Photographs of His Motifs, 2nd edition, Berkeley; Los Angeles, Calif.; London: University of California Press, →OCLC...
- [C]ave painting appears to have flourished during the last 8–10,000 years of this period and to be concentrated in limestone caves of southwestern Europe (especially southwestern France and north coastal Spain), [...]1989, Margaret W. Conkey, “The Structural Analysis of Paleolithic Art”, in C[lifford] C[harles] Lamberg-Karlovsky, editor, Archaeological Thought in America, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire; New York...
- The paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; cave art; (countable) an individual painting of this type.
- I understand from Paṇḍita Baghavánlál, who lately visited the caves, that the painting and writings in these caves are fast going to decay. Those at Ajaṇṭhá are more durable, whereas the Bagh cave paintings will, it is feared, be entirely obliterated after some years.1818 July 28, F. Dangerfield, “IX. Some Account of the Caves near Baug, Called the Panch Pandoo”, in Transactions of the Literary Society of Bombay, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme...
- No natives of this country could, I think, have drawn the cave-paintings [in Buddhist caves found in Khandesh].1851 January, J. Rose, “Art. VIII.—Extracts from the Proceedings of the Society for the Year 1849–50.”, in The Journal of the Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, volume IV, Bombay...
cave painting meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Marathi and Urdu
cave painting in Hindi
- paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; an individual painting of this type
- गुफ़ा चित्र gufā citra
cave painting in Tamil
- paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; an individual painting of this type
- குகை ஓவியம் kukai ōviyam
cave painting in Marathi
- paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; an individual painting of this type
- आदिमानवांची चित्रकला ādimānvāñcī citraklā
cave painting in Urdu
- paintings resulting from this activity regarded collectively, especially if prehistoric; an individual painting of this type
- غار نقاشی
More languagesFewer languages
- cave painting in Bengali
- গুহাচিত্র guhacitro
- cave painting in Sinhala
- ගුහා සිතුවම් guhā situwam
- cave painting in Malay
- lukisan gua
- cave painting in Indonesian
- lukisan gua
- cave painting in Vietnamese
- tranh hang động
Examples of cave painting in a sentence
- Prehistoric pottery, art, cave painting, engraving can be incorporated into the exhibition as an added colourful attraction.1972 January–March, Dilip Kumar Ray, “Some Thoughts on the Problems of Arrangement of Anthropological Specimen in Museums”, in Amalendu...
- Although somewhat difficult to date, the earliest direct evidence of human interest in honey occurs in the famous stone-age cave painting from southern Spain, of a man robbing a wild bees' nest.1998, Don Brothwell, Patricia Brothwell, “Sugars”, in Food in Antiquity: A Survey of the Diet of Ancient Peoples, expanded edition...
- The well-known Neolithic cave painting from Morella la Villa in Spain unmistakably shows a battle between two small groups of archers.2002, Christon I. Archer, John R. Ferris, Holger H. Herwig, Timothy H. E. Travers, “Introduction: The Origins of Warfare”, in World History...
- By 30,000 years ago, modern humans in Europe were producing stunning cave paintings of ice age animals, and carved human figurines.2009, Jonathan Adams, “The March of Cain: Humans as a Destroyer of Species”, in John Mason, editor, Species Richness: Patterns in the...
Forms of cave painting
| plural | cave paintings |
|---|---|
| alternative form | cave-painting |
Words formed from cave painting
- cave painter
Words that rhyme with cave painting
Questions about cave painting
- What does cave painting mean?
- Cave painting means the activity of applying pigments to the interior surfaces of caves to create images, especially when carried out in prehistoric times.
- What is cave painting in Hindi?
- Cave painting in Hindi is गुफ़ा चित्र (gufā citra). See Cave painting meaning in Hindi.
- How do you use cave painting in a sentence?
- Prehistoric pottery, art, cave painting, engraving can be incorporated into the exhibition as an added colourful attraction.
- What part of speech is cave painting?
- Cave painting is a noun.
- How do you pronounce cave painting?
- Cave painting is pronounced /ˈkeɪv ˈpeɪntɪŋ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of cave painting?
- The plural of cave painting is cave paintings.
Words near cave painting in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: cave painting (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-cave painting.wav.
Cite this entry: “cave painting.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cave_painting. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.