impressionism.

1. An artistic movement or approach emphasizing transient visual impressions, especially of light and color.

2. An approach evoking impressions or subjective appearances rather than supplying exhaustive detail or explicit analysis.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• impressionism in painting
• visual impressionism

On the page

The catalog connected the treatment of changing light to impressionism.

The discussion of visual impressionism distinguished perception from precise contour.

Usage notes

Primary category: literary / elevated general. Forms: Usually uncountable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: artistic orientation, figurative interpretation, life writing, narrative knowledge. Disciplines: literary writing, literary analysis, advanced general English. Commonness: moderately common.