Synonyms of portraying

portraying

verb

present participle of portray

1

as in describing

to give a representation or account of in words

the author portrays her characters with lifelike vividness

Synonyms & Similar Words

• describing
• depicting
• painting
• rendering
• characterizing
• illustrating
• picturing
• delineating
• defining
• representing
• setting out
• sketching
• recounting
• drawing
• limning
• relating
• outlining
• displaying
• summarizing
• showing
• telling
• narrating
• imaging
• demonstrating
• exhibiting
• reporting
• suggesting
• labeling
• reciting
• tracing
• hinting
• qualifying
• rehearsing
• drafting
• silhouetting
• summing up
• redescribing
• touching off
• reimaging
• vignetting

Antonyms & Near Antonyms

• distorting
• misrepresenting
• twisting
• falsifying
• coloring
• warping
• misstating
• perverting
• misdescribing
• garbling

2

as in characterizing

to point out the chief quality or qualities of an individual or group

traditionally, European authors portrayed the natives as wise and noble

Synonyms & Similar Words

• describing
• characterizing
• depicting
• representing
• defining
• identifying
• charactering
• classifying
• categorizing
• indicating
• typing
• specifying
• pigeonholing
• marking
• distinguishing
• stamping
• naming
• coloring
• individualizing
• particularizing

3

as in depicting

to present a picture of

a landscape that portrays the scenery near the town where the painter grew up

Synonyms & Similar Words

• depicting
• representing
• describing
• picturing
• documenting
• imaging
• rendering
• showing
• outlining
• illustrating
• delineating
• sketching
• silhouetting
• caricaturing
• diagramming

4

as in playing

to present a portrayal or performance of

gained fame portraying Susan B. Anthony in a one-woman show

Synonyms & Similar Words

• playing
• performing
• depicting
• interpreting
• representing
• doing
• acting
• impersonating
• dramatizing
• enacting
• rendering
• imitating
• mimicking
• acting out
• masquerading
• aping
• taking on
• posing (as)
• pantomiming
• role-playing
• underplaying
• clowning
• playacting
• overplaying
• miming
• starring (in)
• overacting
• coacting
• hamming
• costarring

Example Sentences

Recent Examples of portraying

Saab was flown back to Venezuela, where Maduro’s regime publicly celebrated his return after spending years portraying him as a diplomat illegally detained by Washington. — Antonio Maria Delgado, Miami Herald, 15 Sep. 2026

Cox’s film is biased in Bill’s favor, portraying him as a lapdog whose love for this screeching, spiteful, beady-eyed woman is his great tragic flaw. — Katie Rife, IndieWire, 14 Sep. 2026

At the blue red carpet rollout last week, the actress, known for portraying Olivia Benson in the NBC franchise, expressed excitement to do something different from her longstanding work on the show. — Dessi Gomez, Deadline, 14 Sep. 2026

But Zidar and Zwick are more interested in understanding them than in portraying them as heroes or villains. — Greg Rosalsky, NPR, 14 Sep. 2026

Ever since portraying Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy in Ryan Murphy’s Love Story earlier this year, Sarah Pidgeon can not escape fashion comparisons to her famed on-screen character. — Christian Allaire, Vogue, 14 Sep. 2026

With his day-old stubble and the tough-guy bearing of someone who has spent decades portraying fearsome characters like Ray Donovan and the X-Men’s Sabretooth, Liev Schreiber doesn’t look like a man who is afraid of anything. — Ingrid Abramovitch, Architectural Digest, 10 Sep. 2026

According to historians, portraying darker, more complex characters than in his pre-war Hollywood years enabled Stewart to process his trauma. — Ashley Hume , Larry Fink, FOXNews.com, 10 Sep. 2026

But Pariser manages to use those stories to tackle something more universal, portraying a middle-aged man trying to come to terms with his own questionable behavior, as well as that of his former peers. — Jordan Mintzer, HollywoodReporter, 10 Sep. 2026