Meaning & use
visual
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Meanings
adjectivebefore a noun
Connected with seeing or with what can be seen.
Grammar: Usually comes before a noun: visual aid, visual memory.
Patterns
- a visual aid
- visual evidence
She has an excellent visual memory for faces.
Maps are a useful visual aid in geography lessons.
The film's visual style borrows from old photographs.
nounusually pluralinformal
A picture, chart or video used to explain or decorate something.
Grammar: Normally plural: the visuals for the talk.
Patterns
- visuals for something
The presenter's visuals made the data easy to follow.
We need stronger visuals for the website.
The visuals in the game are stunning.
Word forms
| plural | visuals |
|---|
Common combinations
- visual aid
- The teacher used a visual aid to explain gravity.
- visual arts
- She studies the visual arts at college.
- visual impairment
- The school supports students with visual impairment.
- visual field
- The object moved across his visual field.
- visual learner
- As a visual learner, he prefers diagrams.
Synonyms and how they differ
- optical
- Optical relates to the eye or to light and lenses, so it is more technical.
- ocular
- Ocular is a medical word meaning of the eye, rarer than visual.
- pictorial
- Pictorial means expressed in pictures, not simply relating to sight.
- graphic
- Graphic as an adjective often means vivid, and may suggest disturbing realism.
Opposites
Word family
- visually adverb
- in a way connected with sight
- visualize verb
- to form a picture in the mind
- visualization noun
- the act of picturing something
- vision noun
- the ability to see
Commonly confused: visual or virtual?
visual vs virtual
Virtual means existing on a computer or in effect, not simply seen.
Practice
A diagram used to help students grasp a lesson is called a ___ aid.
Choose one answer.
A visual aid is something you see; virtual aid is not a standard phrase for a diagram.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “visual”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.