caption

noun cap·tion \ ˈkap-shən \

Updated on: 19 Apr 2018

Definition of caption

1 : the part of a legal document that shows where, when, and by what authority it was taken, found, or executed

2 a : the heading especially of an article or document : title

b : the explanatory comment or designation accompanying a pictorial illustration

read the caption for the names of the people in the picture

c : a movie or television show subtitle

—

captionless

play \-ləs\ adjective

See caption defined for English-language learners

See caption defined for kids

Examples of caption in a Sentence

The caption on the picture says “This year's contest winners.”
for the school yearbook, funny captions were written for snapshots showing a typical day at school

Recent Examples of caption from the Web

The caption under the flattering portrait of Sartre that ran with the article read philosopher sartre.

— Longreads, "When Sartre and Beauvoir Started a Magazine," 10 Apr. 2018
Fans were quick to catch, which may be what prompted Hennessy to change the caption.

— sydney scott, Essence.com, "The Quick Read: Did Cardi B's Sister Accidentally Reveal The Gender Of Her Baby?," 10 Apr. 2018
April 7, 2018 Last month, Chloe posted this hella sweet pic of Brooklyn and proclaimed her love for him in the caption to commemorate his birthday.

— Seventeen, "Chloë Grace Moretz and Brooklyn Beckham's Relationship Timeline," 9 Apr. 2018
Editor's note: A previous version of the story had a photo caption that misidentified Celia Sandys, the granddaughter of Winston Churchill.

— jessie balmert, Cincinnati.com, "From England with Churchill's granddaughter to Normandy, for free: Ohio speaker's travel," 9 Apr. 2018
Kidman wrote in an Instagram caption, sharing an image of herself with Streep and Cameron and Nicholas Crovetti, the young twins who play her sons Josh and Max.

— yohana desta, HWD, "Here’s Your First Look at Meryl Streep(’s Wig) in Big Little Lies," 5 Apr. 2018
Tarte announced in the caption of an Instagram photo filled with Peeps to watch out for an exciting new reveal on its Instagram Story.

— rosemary donahue, Allure, "Tarte Pranked Fans With a Fake "Icy Betch" Palette — and a Real Sale to Make Up for It," 1 Apr. 2018
Budding photographers that are looking for references while figuring out their manual exposure settings, can also check out Cagalawan's instagram @izzca, where he's placed all of his setting within each shot's caption info.

— aleanna siacon, Detroit Free Press, "How a Macomb photographer made it to the #Nikon100," 28 Mar. 2018
Brochu wrote in the caption for photos posted on Instagram.

— breanna edwards, The Root, "College Student Who Smeared Bodily Fluids on Black Roommate’s Belongings Receives Special Probation to Avoid Criminal Record. How Not Shocking," 12 Mar. 2018

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'caption.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Origin and Etymology of caption

probably short for certificate of caption (taking, seizure)

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: circa 1670

See Words from the same year

caption Synonyms

Synonyms

head, header, heading, headline, rubric, title;

Related Words

banner, streamer;

catch word, guide word, running head;

greeting, salutation;

superscript, superscription;

subhead, subheading, subtitle;

Other Publishing Terms

annotate, dreadful, emend, expurgate, factoid, jump, lobster shift, redaction, referee

caption

verb

Definition of caption

captioned; captioning play \-sh(ə-)niŋ\

transitive verb

: to furnish with a caption

Almost all live TV sports events are captioned for the hearing-impaired.

Recent Examples of caption from the Web

Movie-theater owners have already had to provide captioning under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

— charles passy, WSJ, "‘Children of a Lesser God’ Pulls Out All Stops For Deaf Theatergoers," 5 Apr. 2018
The LOLcat eventually came to exemplify the image macro: a simple image captioned with bold Impact font at the top and bottom—the top sets up the joke, the bottom pays it off.

— angela watercutter, WIRED, "The WIRED Guide to Memes," 1 Apr. 2018
Hurd also shared a photo from the couple's wedding and captioned it with their wedding date.

— sasha savitsky, Fox News, "Country singers Maren Morris, Ryan Hurd get married," 26 Mar. 2018
Faulkner's students make use of that flexible environment to interact with the world through a class Twitter feed and as class reporters capturing and captioning the day's events, award officials noted.

— kathy routliffe, chicagotribune.com, "McKenzie students cheer Golden Apple winner Gwendolyn Faulkner," 22 Mar. 2018
Closed captioning is available for the hearing-impaired.

— linda mcintosh, sandiegouniontribune.com, "Awards presented to woman's club members," 22 Mar. 2018
For those that are hearing impaired (or would like to at least understand what is being said or sung), there is an open captioning system this year providing captioning on mobile devices.

— craig hlavaty, Houston Chronicle, "What's new at RodeoHouston this year?," 27 Feb. 2018
In many of the videos and photos, often captioned with heart emoji and affectionate comments, Treadway is with her children – sometimes visible, singing with them, sometimes interviewing them from behind the camera.

— jane wester, charlotteobserver, "Mother injured children, then jumped from bridge, police say; all three are dead," 14 Jan. 2018
Clear Captions is a Federal Communications Commission (FCC) certified telephone captioning provider.

— Courant Community, "Community News For The Killingly Edition," 26 Dec. 2017

Origin and Etymology of caption

see ¹caption

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1848

See Words from the same year

CAPTION Defined for English Language Learners

caption

noun

Definition of caption for English Language Learners

: a sentence or group of words that is written on or next to a picture to explain what is being shown

CAPTION Defined for Kids

caption

noun cap·tion \ ˈkap-shən \

Definition of caption for Students

: a comment or title that goes with a picture

Law Dictionary

caption

noun cap·tion \ ˈkap-shən \

legal Definition of caption

: the part of a legal document that states the court, the names of the parties, the docket number, the title of the document, and sometimes the name of the judge