Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • adjective Relating to, characterized by, or composed of pictures.
  • adjective Represented as if in a picture.
  • adjective Illustrated by pictures.
  • noun An illustrated periodical.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A pictorially illustrated periodical.
  • Of or pertaining to pictures or the making of them; relating to painting, drawing, etc.: as, the pictorial art.
  • Expressed or depicted in pictures; of the nature of a picture or of pictures; consisting of pictures or of pictured symbols: as, pictorial illustrations; pictorial writing.
  • Illustrated by or containing pictures or drawings: as, pictorial publications; a pictorial history.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Of or pertaining to pictures; illustrated by pictures; forming pictures; representing with the clearness of a picture

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • adjective of, relating to, composed of, or illustrated by pictures
  • adjective described or otherwise represented as if in a picture; graphic or vivid
  • adjective stylistically similar to a painting, especially following pictorial conventions (of a photograph) – see pictorialism
  • noun a newspaper or magazine with many pictures, or section thereof
  • noun an article primarily featuring many photographs, or simply a collection of photographs
  • noun philately a stamp featuring a vignette of local scenery or culture.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • adjective evoking lifelike images within the mind
  • noun a periodical (magazine or newspaper) containing many pictures
  • adjective pertaining to or consisting of pictures

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin pictōrius, from pictor, painter; see Pictor.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin pictus ("painted")

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Examples

  • Hugh Hefner himself says “No! No!” when asked about a Kate Gosselin pictorial, so I guess the Playboy rejection means one less paycheck for the hard-working reality mom.

    Hugh Hefner May Sell Playboy to Virgin Millionaire Richard Branson 2010

  • POC communities exist only in pictorial books in Exclusive Books stores

    We’re being erased… « Digital immigrant 2009

  • This is very appealing to me: as autochtonous revolutions in Japanese pictorial signifying precede the entire rise of Japanese superengineering mythology.

    Néojaponisme » Blog Archive » Infiniti Brand Journey: Flower Robotics pre-interview 2010

  • 'Frisco Kid the boy who mooned over girls in pictorial magazines had vanished, and' Frisco Kid the sailor, strong and dominant, was on deck.

    Chapter XVII 1902

  • Now, in pictorial phonetism each figure stands for the sound of the word denoting the object represented, that word being generally, though not necessarily, used in a far-fetched sense.

    Pharaohs, Fellahs and Explorers 1891

  • In this spirit, Europeans communicated to the Chinese their desire to obtain pictorial information on the nation’s human society as well as on its extensive flora and fauna.

    The Romance of China: Excursions to China in U.S. Culture: 1776-1876 2005

  • If his collaboration provided Pearl with a launchpad, he can hardly have had a hand in the actual composition of the novel, which she wrote at speed in two months flat, thinking in Chinese, translating as she went along into a clear, simple, fast-paced English that “sounds biblical but is pictorial, which is the Chinese way of thinking and writing.”

    PEARL BUCK IN CHINA Hilary Spurling 2010

  • If his collaboration provided Pearl with a launchpad, he can hardly have had a hand in the actual composition of the novel, which she wrote at speed in two months flat, thinking in Chinese, translating as she went along into a clear, simple, fast-paced English that “sounds biblical but is pictorial, which is the Chinese way of thinking and writing.”

    PEARL BUCK IN CHINA Hilary Spurling 2010

  • Ulysses into Hades to interrogate Teiresias, might be called a pictorial epic of Hades.

    Scientific American Supplement, No. 365, December 30, 1882 Various

  • One of the great works of the omnific Touring Club de France is the preparation of what might be called pictorial inventories of the historical monuments and natural curiosities of France made on the large-scale maps of the Etat Major.

    The Automobilist Abroad

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