stock photo

noun

plural stock photos

: a photographic image of a generic subject (such as a person, object, or location) that is kept for later use

Prevailing wisdom among dealers is that online shoppers prefer real photos of new vehicles in inventory over stock photos from the manufacturer and others.

—David Barkholz

[Suzanne] Rodriguez has more than a decade of experience in digital advertising and professional photography. Stock photos often can be found on the websites of small businesses, but custom photos provide a more accurate characterization of the firm, she said.

—Kevin Oklobzija

When the National Enquirer needed a close-up photo of a snail for one of its … stories, it didn't send a phalanx of photographers out into the garden with cameras in hand. Instead, it called on a small stock photo service in Chatham that specializes in pictures of animals and nature …

—Michael Farrell

Examples of stock photo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Shutterstock — The stock photo provider fell 10% as UK regulators moved to launch a phase 2 investigation into the company’s $3.7 billion merger with Getty Images. —Fred Imbert, CNBC, 3 Nov. 2025

There wasn’t a picture of her on the site, just a stock photo of a burning candle — a placeholder for a life lost. —Calmatters, Mercury News, 30 Oct. 2025

Anyone could share their NIL and, in effect, put their digital double in the equivalent of a stock photo library. —Deni Ellis Béchard, Scientific American, 15 Oct. 2025

The Oregon Republican Party deleted a social media post that used images from South America in the context of protests in Portland, saying a volunteer created the graphic using stock photos. —Billal Rahman, MSNBC Newsweek, 8 Oct. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1912, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for stock photo

• doto
• koto
• moto
• roto
• toto
• hashimoto
• telephoto