ekphrasis.

1. A verbal description or representation of a visual artwork.

2. Vivid verbal description intended to bring a subject before the listener’s or reader’s imagination.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• poetic ekphrasis
• an ekphrasis of a painting

On the page

The novel’s ekphrasis made the painting a second account of the disappearance.

She revised the ekphrasis until its details changed how the character saw the portrait.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings.