brushstroke
noun
brush·stroke
ˈbrəsh-ˌstrōk 
: the configuration given to paint by contact with the bristles of a brush
also
: the paint left on a surface by a single application of a brush or palette knife
—often used figuratively to describe the quality especially of a narrative or description
a story told in broad brushstrokes
Examples of brushstroke in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
Webb just isn’t ready to say how his specific brushstrokes will transform the canvas.
—
Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 12 June 2026
The research, conducted by Francois Berkmans, Ludovic Nys, and Maxence Bigerelle, focuses on how surface metrology—essentially, the texture and topography of a painting’s brushstrokes—can be used like a fingerprint to zero in on the authorship of a particular artwork.
—Leigh Anne Miller, ARTnews.com, 11 June 2026
Her figures lounged, stood, or in one instance danced in unadorned, nearly empty interiors composed with broad, feathery brushstrokes.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The New York Review of Books, 6 June 2026
Their easy, hedonic seductiveness emerges, too, via Yuskavage’s lush, rounded, fleshy brushstrokes (a different sort of stroke material, for the patriarchy or for anyone else), which render everything from boobs to bellies to nipples smooth and swollen, like a succulent fruit fixing to burst.
—Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 23 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for brushstroke
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Nick Kosmider, New York Times, 12 June 2026
The research, conducted by Francois Berkmans, Ludovic Nys, and Maxence Bigerelle, focuses on how surface metrology—essentially, the texture and topography of a painting’s brushstrokes—can be used like a fingerprint to zero in on the authorship of a particular artwork.
—Leigh Anne Miller, ARTnews.com, 11 June 2026
Her figures lounged, stood, or in one instance danced in unadorned, nearly empty interiors composed with broad, feathery brushstrokes.
—Lovia Gyarkye, The New York Review of Books, 6 June 2026
Their easy, hedonic seductiveness emerges, too, via Yuskavage’s lush, rounded, fleshy brushstrokes (a different sort of stroke material, for the patriarchy or for anyone else), which render everything from boobs to bellies to nipples smooth and swollen, like a succulent fruit fixing to burst.
—Naomi Fry, New Yorker, 23 May 2026
See All Example Sentences for brushstroke
Cite this Entry
“Brushstroke.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/brushstroke. Accessed 18 Jun. 2026.
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