expressionistic

American  

[ik-spre-shuhn-ist-ik] / ɪk sprɛ ʃənˈɪst ɪk /

adjective

1. relating to or characteristic of Expressionism.

---

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

But in these works, trippy colors, exaggerated and expressionistic figures and unconventional arrangements seem to be enough to qualify them as surreal.

From The Wall Street Journal • Oct. 24, 2025

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

In many ways, “Nickel Boys” feels like the most directed movie of the year, and Ross’ expressionistic approach will undoubtedly score points with his colleagues.

From Los Angeles Times • Dec. 26, 2024

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)