Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A writer who has the power of graphic or vivid description in depicting scenes or events; one who displays picturesqueness of style.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a writer of vivid or graphic descriptive power

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Some whose tatters were the most conspicuous feature of their costume, I am sure would have charmed me if I had been a painter; as a mere word-painter I find myself wishing I could give the color of their wretchedness to my page.

    Familiar Spanish Travels 2004

  • On the popular lecture platform as well as in the pulpit Dr. Drew is a renowned word-painter, and during the course of the year he receives literally scores of invitations to speak at varied functions both here and elsewhere.

    Babbit 2004

  • As a word-painter the young Churchill has not only verve but visual acuteness.

    Nobel Prize in Literature 1953 - Presentation Speech 1953

  • He has a poetical nature, is a word-painter, and, therefore, indulges in the license of the poet and painter.

    History of the Negro Race in America from 1619 to 1880. Vol. 2 (of 2) Negroes as Slaves, as Soldiers, and as Citizens George Washington Williams

  • Among the characters one -- 'Charles Tewphunny' -- strikes us as a reality; a vigorous, earnest, cheerful nature, clear and fine even through the obscurity and occasional crudity of his word-painter.

    The Continental Monthly , Vol. 2 No. 5, November 1862 Devoted to Literature and National Policy Various

  • On the popular lecture platform as well as in the pulpit Dr. Drew is a renowned word-painter, and during the course of the year he receives literally scores of invitations to speak at varied functions both here and elsewhere.

    Babbitt 1922

  • On the popular lecture platform as well as in the pulpit Dr. Drew is a renowned word-painter, and during the course of the year he receives literally scores of invitations to speak at varied functions both here and elsewhere.

    Chapter 17 1922

  • He is a master of descriptive poetry, an incomparable word-painter, a carver of gems; any one who reads the best poems in Émaux et Camées will afterwards discover that they absolutely decline to be forgotten; but we remember them as we remember fragments of music, or colour in some picture: seldom because they are the noble expression of noble thoughts.

    Introduction 1920

  • He was a word-painter of its landscapes, a rider over its surfaces.

    The American Spirit in Literature : a chronicle of great interpreters Bliss Perry 1907

  • Yet Hawthorne is not a word-painter like Browning and Carlyle, but obtains his pictorial effect by simple accuracy of description, a more difficult process than the other, but also more satisfactory.

    The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne Stearns, Frank P 1906

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