pen picture
Syllables: pen pic·tureUK/ˈpɛn ˌpɪk(t)ʃə/
pen picture noun: a written description, often biographical.
Noun
pen picture (plural pen pictures)
- 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...
- [O]ur purpose […] was to secure a series of Pen Pictures, descriptive,—not of the most important events of the War, for that would be simply metrical history,—but of those events which have relation to the individual, that each and every particular poem might come home to some heart, and there find...1863, J[ohn] Henry Hayward, “Editor’s Preface”, in J. Henry Hayward, editor, Poetical Pen-pictures of the War: Selected from Our Union Poets. […], New York, N.Y.: [J. Henry Hayward] […], →OCLC, page...
- Synonyms:
- pen portrait, sketch
- A picture drawn with a pen.
- Synonyms:
- pen portrait
Examples of pen picture in a sentence
- I have Known." It was a perfect pen picture of one full of nervous energy.—Major H[ewitt] P[earson] M[ontague] Beames, […] (formerly Chief Mechanical Engineer, L.M.S.R.).1942 November–December, “What Our Readers Think”, in The Railway Magazine, London: Tothill Press, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 322:
- In the poem, the poet just gives a pen picture of his father, who according to him, represents all that is best in Aryan culture.1987, Chandrakant Mehta, “Chitradars Hano”, in Amaresh Datta, editor, Encyclopaedia of Indian Literature, volumes I (A–Devo), New Delhi...
Synonyms of pen picture
Forms of pen picture
| plural | pen pictures |
|---|---|
| alternative form | pen-picture |
Origin of pen picture
From pen + picture.
Questions about pen picture
- What does pen picture mean?
- Pen picture means a written description, often biographical.
- How do you use pen picture in a sentence?
- I have Known." It was a perfect pen picture of one full of nervous energy.—Major H[ewitt] P[earson] M[ontague] Beames, […] (formerly Chief Mechanical Engineer, L.M.S.R.).
- What part of speech is pen picture?
- Pen picture is a noun.
- How do you pronounce pen picture?
- Pen picture is pronounced /ˈpɛn ˌpɪk(t)ʃə/ (UK).
- What is the plural of pen picture?
- The plural of pen picture is pen pictures.
Words near pen picture in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: 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.
Last updated:
Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-pen picture.ogg.
Cite this entry: “pen picture.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/pen_picture. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.