Meaning & use
polychrome
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a nountechnicalformal
Painted, printed, or decorated in several different colors, especially in art and architecture.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: a polychrome statue, polychrome decoration. It is not usually used after a verb.
Patterns
- polychrome + noun
- a polychrome surface
The museum displayed a polychrome sculpture from ancient Greece.
The church interior is famous for its polychrome ceiling, painted in blue, gold, and red.
Archaeologists found polychrome pottery with geometric patterns in several colors.
nouncountabletechnicalformal
A work of art or object decorated in several colors, especially a painted statue or building.
Grammar: Countable: a polychrome, two polychromes. Often used in technical or museum contexts.
Patterns
- a polychrome
- the polychromes
The gallery owns several polychromes from the Renaissance period.
Experts studied the polychrome to understand its original colors.
Common combinations
- polychrome sculpture
- The polychrome sculpture was restored to its original bright colors.
- polychrome pottery
- Polychrome pottery is common in many ancient cultures.
- polychrome decoration
- The palace is known for its elaborate polychrome decoration.
- polychrome marble
- The altar was made of polychrome marble in shades of green and red.
Synonyms and how they differ
- multicolored
- Multicolored is the everyday word for having many colors; polychrome is more formal and is used mainly in art and architecture.
- colorful
- Colorful means full of bright colors, but it can also mean lively or interesting; polychrome is neutral and technical, referring only to the use of several colors.
Opposites
Word family
- polychromy noun
- The practice or art of decorating in several colors.
- polychromic adjective
- A rarer variant of polychrome, meaning decorated in several colors.
Commonly confused: polychrome or monochrome?
polychrome vs monochrome
Monochrome means using only one color or shades of one color, the opposite of polychrome. Do not mix them up.
Practice
The ancient Greek statues that we now see as white marble were originally ______, painted in bright colors.
Choose one answer.
Polychrome means decorated in several colors, which fits the idea that the statues were originally painted. Monochrome means one color, and colorless and transparent do not describe painted statues.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “polychrome”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.