Definitions

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

  • intransitive verb To add new details or touches to for correction or improvement.
  • intransitive verb To improve or change (a photographic negative or print), as by adding details or removing flaws.
  • intransitive verb To color (recent growth of hair) to match hair that was tinted, dyed, or bleached at an earlier date.
  • intransitive verb Archaeology To modify (a flaked stone tool) by secondary flaking along the cutting edge.
  • intransitive verb To give or make retouches.
  • noun The act, process, or an instance of retouching.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • To touch or touch up again; improve by new touches; revise; specifically, in the fine arts, to improve, as a painting, by new touches; go over a second time, as a work of art, in order to restore or strengthen a faded part, make additions, or remove blemishes, for its general improvement.
  • noun A repeated touch; an additional touch given in revision; specifically, in the fine arts, additional work done on that which might previonsly have been regarded as finished.

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

  • noun (Fine Arts) A partial reworking,as of a painting, a sculptor's clay model, or the like.
  • transitive verb To touch again, or rework, in order to improve; to revise.
  • transitive verb (Photog.) To correct or change, as a negative, by handwork.

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

  • verb transitive To improve something (especially a photograph), by adding or correcting details, or by removing flaws.
  • verb transitive To colour the roots of hair to match hair previously coloured.
  • verb archaeology To modify a flint tool by making secondary flaking along the cutting edge.
  • noun The act of retouching.

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

  • verb give retouches to (hair)
  • verb alter so as to produce a more desirable appearance

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word retouch.

Examples

  • And yet, the advertisers must have felt compelled otherwise to strongly "retouch"--airbrush is the industry term of the digital process of "photoshopping"--Roberts' and Turlington's photo shoots.

    Forbes.com: News Nicole Kekeh 2011

  • I admit I cheated--I had the most tremendous bags under my eyes this morning, which drove to me figure out how to use the "retouch" tool...

    365 - 43: Krista Blossoms Fresca 2009

  • In-camera "retouch" menu is great, permits significant image adjustment without resorting to the computer

    Imaging Resource News Page 2009

  • In-camera "retouch" menu is unique, permits significant image adjustment without resorting to the computer

    Imaging Resource News Page 2009

  • I mean, I could use the "retouch" feature in Picasa but, that would be frame by frame for all 136k+ frames.

    VideoHelp.com Forum 2009

  • A: When M·A·C approached me, I knew I wouldn't have time to make a new painting but I thought I could "retouch" the one I had just finished for the show.

    Bjooti - Sminkblogg 2009

  • A big - no, a huge - draw was that Howell is a professional photographer who knows how to use lighting in flattering ways and discreetly "retouch" photos so that skin tones appear even and blemishes and other flaws disappear.

    Newsvine - Get Smarter Here 2009

  • I mean, I could use the "retouch" feature in Picasa but, that would be frame by frame for all 136k+ frames.

    VideoHelp.com Forum 2009

  • As fashion magazine editors, we retouch pictures, removing flaws and occasionally slimming down a silhouette.

    Body Image Is More Than Skin Deep Tina Gaudoin 2011

  • But it's a foolish editor these days who overdoes the retouch and attracts the type of humiliating roasting that GQ magazine suffered at the hands of Kate Winslet over a 2003 cover shoot.

    Body Image Is More Than Skin Deep Tina Gaudoin 2011

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.