still life

noun

, plural still lifes.

1. a representation chiefly of inanimate objects, as a painting of a bowl of fruit.
2. the category of subject matter in which inanimate objects are represented, as in painting or photography.

still life

noun

1. 1. a painting or drawing of inanimate objects, such as fruit, flowers, etc
   2. ( as modifier )

      a still-life painting

2. the genre of such paintings

Other Words From

• still-life adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of still life¹

First recorded in 1635–45

Example Sentences

Shortly thereafter, Carlsen and Nepomniachtchi both walked away to take a brief rest, leaving the novel chess position sitting alone on a table in the box, like a still life in a museum display.

From FiveThirtyEight

I doodled a still life, started a draft I’d been avoiding, and, in an attempt at self-care, patted Henry, who snored at my side through the whole sequence.

From Outside Online

A sauce, made from the juices of the salt cod, completes the still life.

From Washington Post

The artist likes to paint shiny enamel cups, pots and pitchers, which he stacks in teetering columns for still lifes.

From Washington Post

The music gives the impression that there is still life here.

From The Daily Beast

The next minute they are frozen in an eerie, extended tableau vivant——a still-life that's not actually still.

From The Daily Beast

The image gives a new take on Sherrie Levine-ish appropriation, getting at it through full-blown still life.

From The Daily Beast

All appropriation has its roots in still life – on the copy-stand, at least – but normally the context is cropped out.

From The Daily Beast

Every still life is secretly cinematic, some version of the freeze-frame.

From The Daily Beast

As for fur, and all that sort of thing, treat it as you would any other texture-problem in still life.

From Project Gutenberg

Into the suburban still-life of the German schools of art not a sound made its way of what was taking place elsewhere.

From Project Gutenberg

In one body, however, there was still life, and that happened to be the body of the battalion commander.

From Project Gutenberg

Her little boy, born just before his father's death, and upon whom she doated, was a magnificent piece of still life.

From Project Gutenberg

Her father insisted that she draw from still life and she had been using a distant tree as her model.

From Project Gutenberg