caption

noun

cap·tion | \ ˈkap-shən

Definition of caption

(Entry 1 of 2)

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

2a : 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

caption

verb

captioned; captioning\ ˈkap-sh(ə-)niŋ

Definition of caption (Entry 2 of 2)

transitive verb

: to furnish with a caption Almost all live TV sports events are captioned for the hearing-impaired.

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Examples of caption in a Sentence

Noun

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 on the Web: Noun

Keep scrolling for all the best Instagram captions for outfit photos. — Kelsey Stiegman, Seventeen, "30 Best Fashion Captions That Will Score Major Likes on Instagram," 15 Mar. 2019 Earlier, Jack's younger sister Sophie, 18, uploaded her own emotional photo and caption. — Kaitlin Menza, Woman's Day, "Luke Perry's Children Posted Tributes to Their Dad on Instagram," 6 Mar. 2019 And everyone knows that life’s real truth lies within Instagram captions, right? — Lucy Wood, Marie Claire, "Bradley Cooper's Ex-Wife Posted a Cryptic Response to His Relationship With Lady Gaga," 26 Feb. 2019 Drake knows exactly what his fans want: catchy hip-hop songs, lyrics that double as clever Instagram captions, and exclusive-as-hell merchandise. — Tyler Watamanuk, GQ, "Drake Released a New Album—and, Obviously, New Merch," 2 July 2018 The National Archives captions were not entirely correct. — Kyle Mizokami, Popular Mechanics, "That Time the U.S. Navy Sank a Fake, Yellow, North Korean Submarine," 6 Feb. 2019 Everline writes in the caption before tagging fellow trainer Kasia Keranen (@kasiafit) and the account @realgame.athletics, which shared its own iteration of the challenge over the weekend. — SELF, "Here's Why You Should Try This Incredibly Tough Core Exercise From Celeb Trainer Ron Everline," 30 Jan. 2019 Photo: Sadiq Asyraf/Associated Press Corrections & Amplifications An earlier version of this article misspelled Britney Spears’s name as Briney Spear in a caption. — Bradley Hope, WSJ, "The Billion-Dollar Mystery Man and the Wildest Party Vegas Ever Saw," 15 Sep. 2018 Tish also posted a photo of just Miley and her dad at the wedding with a heart as her caption. — Tamara Fuentes, Seventeen, "Billy Ray Cyrus Shares Sweet Pictures from Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth's Wedding," 28 Dec. 2018

Recent Examples on the Web: Verb

Williams captioned a photo of herself serving at the tournament. — Kelcie Willis, ajc, "Serena Williams withdraws from French Open due to injury," 4 June 2018 JoJo captioned the picture, linking to a YouTube video that showed the car in further detail. — De Elizabeth, Teen Vogue, "Justin Bieber Commented on YouTuber JoJo Siwa's Car on Instagram," 30 Dec. 2018 Followers caught another glimpse of the baby's new bling in a photo Kylie shared later, featuring Stormi taking a nap on Kylie's chest, which the new mom captioned with a pink heart emoji. — Andrea Park, Allure, "Kylie Jenner Is Getting Mommy-Shamed for Piercing 5-Month-Old Stormi's Ears," 12 July 2018 The couple is incredibly affectionate on Instagram, often snuggling up in snapshots captioned with the hashtag #HMF (although the meaning is unclear). — Taysha Murtaugh, Country Living, "How Christina El Moussa Found Love With Boyfriend Ant Anstead Following Her Divorce From Tarek," 12 July 2018 This 30-year-old photographer from Mobile, Alabama, decided to share an image of a woman crying in the shower on Instagram, captioning it with inspiring words that has hit such a chord, it's already racked up hundreds of thousands of views. — Blake Bakkila, Health.com, "This Woman’s Powerful Message About Crying in the Shower Is Going Viral," 4 May 2018 Lopez captioned the jet-setting self-portrait, casually leaning onto a plush beige leather seat with a classic black Birkin dangling from her nude manicured hand. — Jenna Rennert, Vogue, "Jennifer Lopez Pulls the Ultimate Beauty Power Move at the Airport," 7 Nov. 2018 But as Roman’s fans and followers tried the recipe, posting the baking process, finished cookies and even baking questions to their Instagram Stories, Roman smartly screen-grabbed, captioned and re-posted a handful at a time. — Kurt Wagner, Recode, "‘Stories’ was Instagram’s smartest move yet," 8 Aug. 2018 The above and below galleries, which were taken at my own box-opening event at a Microsoft PR office in downtown Seattle, are captioned with explanations of what exactly is different about this box. — Sam Machkovech, Ars Technica, "Forward-box: Xbox Adaptive Controller’s packaging is a good Microsoft move," 25 July 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.

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Last Updated

20 Mar 2019

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Time Traveler for caption

The first known use of caption was circa 1670

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More Definitions for caption

caption

noun

English Language Learners Definition of caption

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

See the full definition for caption in the English Language Learners Dictionary

caption

noun

cap·tion | \ ˈkap-shən

Kids Definition of caption

: a comment or title that goes with a picture

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