expressionistic
Americanadjective
Other Word Forms
- expressionistically adverb
Explanation
Something that's expressionistic uses emotions rather than realism to express an artistic idea. An expressionistic painting gives you the general sense of a tree, rather than a photographic duplication of a tree. Expressionistic art, which flourished at the start of the 20th century, used distortion and exaggeration to get feelings and ideas across. Many painters we admire today, including Matisse, Monet, and Van Gogh, all used expressionistic techniques in their work. Other forms of art, including poetry, prose, and dance, can also be done in an expressionistic style. The root word is expression, used in the art world to mean "way of expressing."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The production works best when the play’s expressionistic flourishes invite theatergoers to consider more deeply the subjective experiences and societal subtexts that are being externalized.
From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 18, 2026
Long existing beyond the boundaries of race, nationhood and categorical art movements, Lam produced a range of work, including graphic design, book illustrations, large Jackson Pollock-inspired abstractions, and expressionistic ceramics.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jan. 31, 2026
Ms. Mumenthaler has constructed her character study with subtly expressionistic imagination, deploying an enveloping, finely tuned sound design and finding a transporting musical motif in Holst’s “The Planets.”
From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 15, 2025
At the same time, like so much of this movie, the scene also feels forced, partly because the writer-director Minhal Baig’s expressionistic reveries don’t always fit with the issues she recurrently invokes.
From New York Times • Apr. 18, 2024
Mrs. Renshaw maintains her high place as a philosophical and expressionistic bard, though hampered by unusual theories of spontaneous versification.
From Writings in the United Amateur, 1915-1922 by Lovecraft, H. P. (Howard Phillips)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
