illustration

illustration

noun

Definition of ILLUSTRATION

1

something that visually explains or decorates a text <this book on birds has gorgeous illustrations>

Synonyms diagram, figure, graphic, plate, visual

Related Words art, artwork; drawing, illumination, image, pictogram, pictograph, picture; caption, key, legend; inset; depiction, pictorialization, portrait, portrayal, representation; clarification, elucidation, explanation, explication, exposition

2

a statement that makes something clear <forced to give several illustrations until she was understood>

Synonyms clarification, construction, elucidation, exegesis, explication, exposition, illumination, illustration, interpretation, road map

Related Words paraphrase, restatement, translation; annotation, comment, commentary, epexegesis, gloss; deciphering, decoding; disentanglement, unscrambling; analysis; edification, enlightenment; definition, meaning; demonstration, enactment; justification, rationale, rationalization, reasoning; caution, caveat, warning

3

a two-dimensional design intended to look like a person or thing <the doctor sketched an illustration to explain the procedure to the patient>

Synonyms icon (also ikon), illustration, image, likeness

Related Words delineation, depiction, representation, resemblance, view; portrait; daub, drawing, finger painting; etching, silhouette, sketch, watercolor; caricature, cartoon, doodle; collage, montage, photograph; hieroglyph, hieroglyphic, ideogram, ideograph; pictograph; diagram

4

one of a group or collection that shows what the whole is like <chose one essay as an illustration of the high quality of the collection>

Synonyms case, exemplar, exemplification, illustration, instance, prototype, representative, sample, specimen

Related Words archetype, classic, locus classicus, paradigm; cross section, microcosm; evidence, indication, manifestation, sign