Word.ws English Dictionary

pen-picture

pen-picture is the alternative form of pen picture.

Meaning of pen picture

Noun

pen picture (plural pen pictures)

  1. (idiomatic) A written description, often biographical.
    • Mr. [Timothy Shay] Arthur has been, and is, a close observer, and in his pictures of domestic life, his groups include all the necessary characters, while the back ground and filling up take in all the accessories and incidentals, which, skilfully managed, give a pen-picture its vraisemblance.1842 April 30, “Six Nights with the Washingtonians: A Series of Original Temperance Tales. New York: Curry & Co., 155 Broadway [book review]”, in Brother Jonathan, volume II, number 1, New York...
    Synonyms:
    pen portrait, sketch
  2. (archaic, idiomatic) A picture drawn with a pen.
    Synonyms:
    pen portrait

Forms of pen-picture

pluralpen-pictures

Questions about pen-picture

What is pen-picture the alternative form of?
Pen-picture is the alternative form of pen picture.

Words near pen-picture in the dictionary

  1. pen-friend
  2. pen-friends
  3. Pen-hsi
  4. pen-name
  5. pen-names
  6. pen-picture
  7. pen-pictures
  8. pen-pusher
  9. pen-pushers
  10. pen-tailed treeshrew
  11. pen-tailed treeshrews

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: pen-picture (page history and authors); pen picture (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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Cite this entry: “pen-picture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pen-picture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.