portrays

verb

present tense third-person singular of portray
1
as in describes
to give a representation or account of in words the author portrays her characters with lifelike vividness

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Antonyms & Near Antonyms
2
as in characterizes
to point out the chief quality or qualities of an individual or group traditionally, European authors portrayed the natives as wise and noble

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3
as in depicts
to present a picture of a landscape that portrays the scenery near the town where the painter grew up

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4
as in plays
to present a portrayal or performance of gained fame portraying Susan B. Anthony in a one-woman show

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Example Sentences

Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of portrays Ben Rosenfield portrays Steve Korman, with Molly Ephraim also part of the ensemble cast. — Georg Szalai, HollywoodReporter, 4 Nov. 2026 Dominic West portrays Doc McGhee, the band’s renowned music manager, while David Kross plays Andrej, the Scorpions’ imprisoned friend on the other side of the Berlin Wall. — Anthony D'alessandro, Deadline, 4 Nov. 2026 The singer-actress portrays Dixie Bennings, a former backup singer and old friend of Capt. — Jessica Nicholson, Billboard, 2 Nov. 2026 Camp, Schreiber, Beetz, Jagannathan and Chrissy Metz, who portrays Michael and Felicia’s mother, Ida, are all fantastic in their roles. — Aramide Tinubu, Variety, 30 Oct. 2026 And actress Sarah Pidgeon, who portrays Bessette Kennedy in Ryan Murphy’s series, is still channeling her style for red-carpet turns. — Rosemary Feitelberg, Footwear News, 29 Oct. 2026 European folklore often portrays cats as companions of witches, while Welsh folklore depicts the cat as bringing luck to a home, according to the museum. — Ingrid Vasquez, PEOPLE, 22 Oct. 2026 And Dastmalchian, who portrays Bison with an emphasis on sniveling evil, struggles to quietly undercut the character’s cartoonishly menacing getup. — Los Angeles Times, 16 Oct. 2026
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portrays
  1. describes
  2. characterizes
  3. depicts
  4. plays
  5. performs
  6. interprets
  7. represents
Verb
  • Berry, who died last month and never did buy a computer (or a smartphone), describes in the essay his writing process, which involved drafting a piece by hand and then having his wife transcribe it on a typewriter.
    — August Lamm, Washington Post, 8 Nov. 2026
  • Their calculations used a feature of the model called a universal scaling function, which describes how physical quantities with dimensions, such as length, change over cosmic time.
    — Rupendra Brahambhatt, Interesting Engineering, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of describes
Verb
  • Yet Lee shows that the iron sense of control with which Brookner approached her own legacy runs through her fiction, too, creating the austere elegance that characterizes her prose.
    — Literary Hub, Literary Hub, 2 Nov. 2026
  • In October 2019, China paused sponsorship deals with the National Basketball Association after Houston Rockets executive Daryl Morey posted online in support of protests in Hong Kong, which Beijing characterizes as separatist and seditious.
    — Miranda Jeyaretnam, Time, 28 Oct. 2026
Definition of characterizes
Verb
  • The film, set between the years 1945 and 1947, depicts a society struggling to recover from war, only to be reduced, once again, by the arrival of a kaiju (as giant monsters are known in Japanese, and to fans of the corresponding film genre).
    — Matt Alt, New Yorker, 8 Nov. 2026
  • Another image depicts a nude girl in a room that appears to be part of a motel chain in the Philippines, federal investigators said.
    — Max Foster, CNN Money, 6 Nov. 2026
Definition of depicts
Verb
  • Three plays later, Austin Simmons hit Cayden Lee, who got blasted by a Longhorn defender and fumbled to set up the game-sealing Texas TD.
    — Kansas City Star, Kansas City Star, 8 Nov. 2026
  • Pitre plays a key role in the as the nickel cornerback, and his versatility at the position is somewhat irreplaceable in DeMeco Ryans’ scheme.
    — Peter Warren, Houston Chronicle, 8 Nov. 2026
Definition of plays
Verb
  • Republican hopes for keeping the presidency will be shaped by how the current president performs in the final two years of his second term.
    — Arkansas Online, Arkansas Online, 12 Nov. 2026
  • On top of that, Medicare will pay less when a doctor sees a patient and performs a minor procedure, like a biopsy, at the same visit.
    — Chicago Tribune, Chicago Tribune, 11 Nov. 2026
Definition of performs
Verb
  • In a recent Science study, researchers show that the Laurentide reached its smallest size about 3,600 years ago, then started re-expanding roughly 2,000 years ago, which the team interprets as the opening move of the next glaciation.
    — Jacek Krywko, ArsTechnica, 24 Oct. 2026
  • For one, estrogen helps regulate how the nervous system interprets pain signals.
    — Cheyenne Buckingham, Washington Post, 24 Oct. 2026
Definition of interprets
Verb
  • The event, being held at the Salina Regional Airport, represents a last-minute push by the president to rally Republican voters in the Midwest.
    — Carter Schroppe, The Washington Examiner, 2 Nov. 2026
  • Written over the course of five years, every tune represents a certain period of my life.
    — Christopher Arnott, Hartford Courant, 2 Nov. 2026
Definition of represents

Browse Nearby Words

portraying
portrays
ports
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Cite this Entry

“Portrays.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portrays. Accessed 13 Nov. 2026.

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