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Visual vs Pictorial - What's the difference?

visual | pictorial |

As adjectives the difference between visual and pictorial

is that visual is related to or affecting the vision while pictorial is of, relating to, composed of, or illustrated by pictures.

As nouns the difference between visual and pictorial

is that visual is any element of something that depends on sight while pictorial is a newspaper or magazine with many pictures, or section thereof.

visual

English

Alternative forms

* visuall (qualifier)

Adjective

(en adjective)
  • Related to or affecting the vision.
  • * {{quote-magazine, year=2013, month=May-June, author= William E. Conner
  • , title= An Acoustic Arms Race , volume=101, issue=3, page=206-7, magazine=(American Scientist) , passage=Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close
  • (obsolete) That can be seen; visible.
  • Derived terms

    * visual poem * visualization * visualize * visually

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • Any element of something that depends on sight.
  • An image; a picture; a graphic.
  • (in the plural) All the visual elements of a multi-media presentation or entertainment, usually in contrast with normal text or audio.
  • (advertising) A preliminary sketch.
  • pictorial

    English

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Of, relating to, composed of, or illustrated by pictures.
  • Described or otherwise represented as if in a picture; graphic or vivid.
  • *{{quote-magazine, date=2012-03
  • , author= , title=Pixels or Perish , volume=100, issue=2, page=106 , magazine= citation , passage=Drawings and pictures are more than mere ornaments in scientific discourse. Blackboard sketches, geological maps, diagrams of molecular structure, astronomical photographs, MRI images, the many varieties of statistical charts and graphs: These pictorial devices are indispensable tools for presenting evidence, for explaining a theory, for telling a story.}}
  • Stylistically similar to a painting, especially following pictorial conventions (of a photograph) – see pictorialism.
  • Usage notes

    Can be used comparatively “Could you give a more pictorial treatment of this subject?” but this usage is uncommon.

    Derived terms

    * pictorial convention * pictorialism * pictorially

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • a newspaper or magazine with many pictures, or section thereof
  • an article primarily featuring many photographs, or simply a collection of photographs
  • (philately) a stamp featuring a vignette of local scenery or culture.
  • Usage notes

    * Individual titles will be capitalized e.g. "Sunday Pictorial" * In sense “an article consisting primarily of photographs”, particularly used of photographs of people, as in “The budding starlet is featured in a pictorial in a glossy magazine next week.”

    Coordinate terms

    * (collection of images) gallery, slideshow