1
as in to describe
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 to characterize
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 to depict
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 to play
to present a portrayal or performance of
gained fame portraying Susan B. Anthony in a one-woman show
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Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of portray
Conrad, you are nominated for portraying Abraham Lincoln.
—
Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 28 May 2025
Clint Eastwood starred in the 1979 telling, which portrayed the unbelievably elaborate lengths the prisoners took to break out.
—Chris Lau, CNN Money, 28 May 2025
Longtime creative partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg often co-write and co-direct and the show centers around a hapless head of the fictional Continental Studios portrayed by Rogen and surrounded by a band of equally myopic execs.
—Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
For voice actors who previously portrayed Darth Vader in video games, the Fortnite feature starkly illustrates how AI voice synthesis could reshape their profession.
—Ashley Belanger – May 19, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for portray
Maureen Lee Lenker, EW.com, 28 May 2025
Clint Eastwood starred in the 1979 telling, which portrayed the unbelievably elaborate lengths the prisoners took to break out.
—Chris Lau, CNN Money, 28 May 2025
Longtime creative partners Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg often co-write and co-direct and the show centers around a hapless head of the fictional Continental Studios portrayed by Rogen and surrounded by a band of equally myopic execs.
—Howard Homonoff, Forbes.com, 28 May 2025
For voice actors who previously portrayed Darth Vader in video games, the Fortnite feature starkly illustrates how AI voice synthesis could reshape their profession.
—Ashley Belanger – May 19, ArsTechnica, 19 May 2025
See All Example Sentences for portray
Recent Examples of Synonyms for portray
Verb
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Nancy Preis, Opera in the Ozarks general director, will describe the new, state-of-the-art theater built with funds from the Walton Family Foundation at Inspiration Point outside Eureka Springs.—
Deb Harvell,
Arkansas Online,
25 May 2025
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The first three have to do with the yield curve, which describes the structure of interest rates (yields) in the Treasury market.—
George Calhoun,
Forbes.com,
25 May 2025
Verb
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The outline of the initial report — a contract extension for Crow-Armstrong potentially worth around $75 million — has been characterized as inaccurate.—
Patrick Mooney,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
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Scott, a former two-term governor of the Sunshine State and no stranger to working with the agency while battling major hurricanes, characterized FEMA as rife with fraud that does little more than write checks for post-disaster cleanup.—
Hailey Bullis,
The Washington Examiner,
26 May 2025
Verb
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Visitors are greeted with a diorama depicting children and dinosaurs interacting peacefully in the Garden of Eden.—
Peter Smith,
Los Angeles Times,
25 May 2025
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Banners depicting hometown heroes adorn the streets of Westminster in time for Memorial Day, honoring those who served in the U.S. military, including some who gave their lives.—
Thomas Goodwin Smith,
Baltimore Sun,
25 May 2025
Verb
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Both Earps and Hampton have played a very similar number of minutes and faced a very similar number of shots, but Earps’ shot-stopping has not been as strong, conceding 1.6 goals more than expected, based on the quality of shots faced.—
Charlotte Harpur,
New York Times,
28 May 2025
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Baty plays second base on days when Vientos starts at the hot corner, and Vientos gets DH days to get Baty at third.—
Abbey Mastracco,
New York Daily News,
28 May 2025
Verb
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Lindsay Leahy, who represents Oceanside on the water authority board, requested last week an analysis of how much overall rates would need to rise if all water demand through the PSAWR program were to go away.—
David Garrick,
San Diego Union-Tribune,
27 May 2025
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The other union that already threw its weight behind Brannan is Local 804, which mostly represents UPS delivery workers.—
Chris Sommerfeldt,
New York Daily News,
27 May 2025
Verb
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This has forced the library system to pay a contractor $1,500 per month to power-wash the area outside the branch twice a week during the morning hours after previously relying on in-house personnel to perform the task.—
Joseph Flaherty,
Arkansas Online,
23 May 2025
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Irsay was a musician himself, as the lead vocalist and frontman of the Jim Irsay Band, which performed shows across the country with guest performers including John Mellencamp and Ann Wilson.—
Rachel Treisman,
NPR,
22 May 2025
Verb
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The emergence of multimodal LLMs, which can interpret speech, images, video and text, is opening up a new class of cross-functional, intelligent workflows.—
Umair Javed,
Forbes.com,
21 May 2025
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Anyone who’s ever had a pet has spent countless hours staring into the animal’s beady eyes, scrutinizing every micro-twitch and squint in hopes of interpreting what the creature might be thinking.—
Peter Debruge,
Variety,
20 May 2025
Verb
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But then, proving the impossible possible is what these films have done from the start.—
Keith Phipps,
Vulture,
23 May 2025
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The characters are too one-dimensional to care about — though we’re sporadically asked to do just that — yet at the same time their cartoonishness isn’t treated with enough gusto to actually be fun.—
Dennis Harvey,
Variety,
23 May 2025
Cite this Entry
“Portray.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/portray. Accessed 3 Jun. 2025.
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