portrayed; portraying; portrays
portrayer
noun
Synonyms
Examples of portray in a Sentence
The White House has portrayed the President as deeply conflicted over the matter.
The lawyer portrayed his client as a victim of child abuse.
He portrayed himself as a victim.
The painting portrays the queen in a purple robe.
Laurence Olivier portrayed Hamlet beautifully.
Recent Examples on the Web
During the trial, Crumbley portrayed herself as a doting mother who wasn't aware of her son's serious mental health issues and said the responsibility to secure the gun belonged to her husband, James, who faces trial next month.
—
Kayla Jimenez, The Courier-Journal, 12 June 2024
While the media like to portray fast-food chains as major multinational corporations, the reality is that many locations are owned by franchisees that operate more like small businesses.
—The Editors, National Review, 10 June 2024
Dumb Money, the movie that just came out about meme stocks, tried to portray GameStop as a political movement similar to Occupy Wall Street, where people were fighting the short-sellers and hedge funds—the little guy versus the big guy.
—Leo Schwartz, Fortune, 10 June 2024
Outside groups have come in big for Brown to the tune of $4.2 million, and Gunter is enough of a danger that the pro-Brown Duty First Nevada super PAC is running ads portraying Gunter as a fake Republican.
—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 9 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for portray 
Kayla Jimenez, The Courier-Journal, 12 June 2024
While the media like to portray fast-food chains as major multinational corporations, the reality is that many locations are owned by franchisees that operate more like small businesses.
—The Editors, National Review, 10 June 2024
Dumb Money, the movie that just came out about meme stocks, tried to portray GameStop as a political movement similar to Occupy Wall Street, where people were fighting the short-sellers and hedge funds—the little guy versus the big guy.
—Leo Schwartz, Fortune, 10 June 2024
Outside groups have come in big for Brown to the tune of $4.2 million, and Gunter is enough of a danger that the pro-Brown Duty First Nevada super PAC is running ads portraying Gunter as a fake Republican.
—Geoffrey Skelley, ABC News, 9 June 2024
See all Example Sentences for portray
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'portray.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near portray
Cite this Entry
“Portray.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/portray. Accessed 18 Jun. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
portray
verb
por·tray
pōr-ˈtrā 
pȯr-
1
: to make a portrait of
2
a
: to describe in words
b
: to play the role of
portrayer
noun
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