Quantcast
Merriam-Webster Logo
SINCE 1828
Menu
  • Dictionary
  • Thesaurus
  • Scrabble
  • Spanish Central
  • Learner's Dictionary

An Encyclopædia Britannica Company

watercolor

play
noun wa·ter·col·or \ˈwȯ-tər-ˌkə-lər, ˈwä-\

Simple Definition of watercolor

  • : a type of paint that is mixed with water

  • : a picture painted with watercolors

Source: Merriam-Webster's Learner's Dictionary

Full Definition of watercolor

  1. 1 :  a paint of which the liquid is a water dispersion of the binding material (as glue, casein, or gum)

  2. 2 :  the art or method of painting with watercolors

  3. 3 :  a picture or design executed in watercolors

watercolor

adjective

watercolorist

play \-ˌkə-lə-rist\ noun

See watercolor defined for English-language learners

See watercolor defined for kids



Examples of watercolor in a sentence

  1. a landscape done in watercolor

  2. He only works in watercolors.

  3. We bought a watercolor of the shore.



1596

First Known Use of watercolor

1596

WATERCOLOR Defined for Kids

watercolor

play
noun wa·ter·col·or \ˈwȯ-tər-ˌkə-lər, ˈwä-\

Definition of watercolor for Students

  1. 1 :  a paint whose liquid part is water

  2. 2 :  a picture painted with watercolor

  3. 3 :  the art of painting with watercolor



Learn More about watercolor

  1. Spanish Central: Translation of watercolor Nglish: Translation of watercolor for Spanish speakers Britannica.com: Encyclopedia article about watercolor

Seen and Heard

What made you want to look up watercolor? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible).

WORD OF THE DAY

vamoose

play

to depart quickly

Get Word of the Day daily email!

TRENDING NOW

  1. diaspora From the Greek word meaning "to scatter"

  2. big league, bigly Both are real words

  3. stamina The word means "staying power"

  4. temperament The candidates attacked each other's temperaments

  5. braggadocio Trump said 'braggadocious'

SEE ALL

BROWSE DICTIONARY

watercolor

WORD GAMES

Take a 3-minute break and test your skills!

alphabet-pasta-spelling-help

Which is the correct spelling?

acommadate accomodate acommodate accommodate
Name That Thing

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!

TAKE THE QUIZ
SCRABBLE® Sprint

Test Your Knowledge - and learn some interesting things along the way.

TAKE THE QUIZ

Words at Play

migos
Dabbing

New uses of an old word

autumn
Is It 'Autumn' or 'Fall'?

Why does this season have two different names?

transfiguration
'Dumbledore', 'Hippogriff', and 11 More Real Words from Harry Potter

The history behind Harry Potter

hipster
The Original Hipsters

Hint: they carried things on their hips

Ask the Editors

subjunctive
How to Use the Subjunctive in English

If I were you, I'd watch this

payday
How Often Is 'Biweekly'?

Don't get us started on 'bimonthly'

video-irregardless-grammar-peeve-blend-of-the-synonyms-irrespective-and-regardless
Irregardless

It is in fact a real word (but that doesn't mean you should use it).

video-moose-goose-weird-plurals
Weird Plurals

One goose, two geese. One moose, two... moose. What's up with that?

Word Games

alphabet-pasta-spelling-help
Difficult Spelling Words Quiz

Can you spell these 15 tricky spelling words?

Take the quiz
who-knew-quiz
Who Knew?

Take this quiz and discover 12 words for things you didn't know had words.

Take the quiz
Name That Thing
Name That Thing

Test your visual vocabulary with our 10-question challenge!

Take the quiz
SCRABBLE® Sprint
SCRABBLE® Sprint

SCRABBLE® fans, sharpen your skills!

Play the game
Examples: watercolor in a sentence