collage

noun col·lage \ kə-ˈläzh , kȯ- , kō- \

|Updated on: 5 Aug 2018

Examples: collage in a Sentence

Definition of collage

1 a : an artistic composition made of various materials (such as paper, cloth, or wood) glued on a surface

cut pictures from magazines to make a collage

b : a creative work that resembles such a composition in incorporating various materials or elements

the album is a collage of several musical styles

2 : the art of making collages

an artist known for her use of collage

3 : hodgepodge

a collage of ideas

4 : a work (such as a film) having disparate scenes in rapid succession without transitions

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collage

transitive verb

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collagist

play \kə-ˈlä-zhist, kȯ-, kō-\ noun

See collage defined for English-language learners

See collage defined for kids

Examples of collage in a Sentence

We made collages in art class.
an artist known for her use of collage
The album is a collage of several musical styles.

Recent Examples of collage from the Web

The cryptic post accompanied a photo collage of what looks like a thigh, a hand, and a close-up of bronze glitter.

— leah prinzivalli, Allure, "Becca and Chrissy Teigen Teased a Glittery New Beauty Product on Instagram," 18 June 2018
Andem shoots the main show; Magnus shoots the Instagram Stories—collages of video, text, and photographs—that play off Andem’s scripts.

— d. t. max, The New Yorker, "“SKAM,” the Radical Teen Drama That Unfolds One Post at a Time," 23 Jan. 2017
Expect a mix of painting, conceptual photography, drawing and mixed media collage.

— carolina a. miranda, latimes.com, "Datebook: Shots of old Route 66, dreamlike paintings and garments fashioned from paper," 12 July 2018
Summer Mason, immersive video works, audio collage.

— SFChronicle.com, "Art listings," 12 July 2018
The storytelling is eclectic by design: a collage of poetry and prose, OkCupid chats and diary entries, tweets and interview transcripts; there’s even a series of drawings.

— steph cha, USA TODAY, "Amber Tamblyn takes on rape culture (with a daring twist) in debut novel, 'Any Man'," 26 June 2018
Toward the end, the musicians enacted a rebellion against routine, throwing down their music stands and stalking offstage while a chaotic electronic collage of Beethoven excerpts swelled on the sound system.

— alex ross, The New Yorker, "The Sonic Fury of the Ojai Music Festival," 24 June 2018
Digital collage involves the process of placing and layering multiple images on top of each other.

— Houston Chronicle, "ART FEEL: Digital collage art with Sue Burke Harrington," 22 June 2018
Matthew Smith grew up snipping out pictures of his favorite Kings players from local newspapers to add to a collage on his wall – will Marvin Bagley III make the cut?

— angel guerrero, sacbee, "Some Kings fans were enamored with Luka Doncic. Here's how they're taking the news," 21 June 2018

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

Origin and Etymology of collage

French, literally, gluing, from coller to glue, from colle glue, from Vulgar Latin *colla, from Greek kolla

NEW! Time Traveler

First Known Use: 1919

in the meaning defined at sense 1a

See Words from the same year

collage Synonyms

Synonyms

agglomerate, agglomeration, assortment, clutter, grab bag, hash, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, jumble, litter, medley, mélange, miscellany, mishmash, mixed bag, motley, muddle, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, patchwork, potpourri, ragbag, rummage, salmagundi, scramble, shuffle, smorgasbord, tumble, variety, welter;

admixture, alloy, amalgam, blend, combination, commixture, composite, compound, fusion, intermixture, mix-up;

mess, morass, shambles;

Other Fine Arts Terms

Gothic, baroque, bas-relief, limn, oeuvre, pastiche, rococo, sfumato

COLLAGE Defined for English Language Learners

collage

noun

Definition of collage for English Language Learners

: a work of art that is made by attaching pieces of different materials (such as paper, cloth, or wood) to a flat surface
: the art or method of making collages
: a collection of different things