portray

verb

por·​tray pȯr-ˈtrā 

pər-

portrayed; portraying; portrays

transitive verb

1

: to make a picture of : depict

2

a

: to describe in a particular way

The article portrayed the president as confident.

b

: to play the role of : enact

portrays the hero in the film

portrayer noun

Synonyms of portray

• describe
• depict

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

The book portrays the city as a liminal metropolis where the line demarcating business and crime has been worn faint by heavy footfall from both directions. —Mark O’Connell, The New York Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2026

The director, Antoine Fuqua, working with a script by John Logan, portrays Michael as an emotionally stunted and grievously wounded artist of historic greatness. —Sheldon Pearce, New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2026

Jaafar Jackson, the real-life nephew of Michael Jackson, is portraying the King of Pop in the film, with Colman Domingo and Nia Long playing his parents, Joe and Katherine Jackson. —Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 24 Apr. 2026

With Ryan Gosling starring as Grace, the film portrays schoolteacher Grace and extraterrestrial Rocky (voiced by James Ortiz) on a mysterious mission to save their respective worlds. —Elizabeth Howell, Space.com, 24 Apr. 2026

Word History

Etymology

Middle English portraien, purtrayen, purtreyen "to draw, paint, depict, decorate, form a mental image of," borrowed from Anglo-French purtraire "to represent (in drawing, painting, etc.), depict, decorate, plan" (also continental Old French pourtraire), from pur-, pour-, por-, prefix marking completion of an action (going back to Latin prō-, prefix denoting forward movement) + traire "to drag, pull, draw out, launch, shoot, trace, represent," going back to Latin trahere "to drag, draw, take along" — more at pro- entry 2, abstract entry 1

First Known Use

14th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Rhymes for portray

• airway
• allay
• archway
• array
• ashtray
• astray
• aue
• away
• ballet
• belay
• beltway
• beret

Kids 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