Library / English Dictionary

PIGMENT

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating

Example:

artists use 'paint' and 'pigment' interchangeably

Synonyms:

paint; pigment

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Hypernyms ("pigment" is a kind of...):

color; coloring material; colour; colouring material (any material used for its color)

coat; coating (a thin layer covering something)

Meronyms (substance of "pigment"):

pigment (dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.))

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pigment"):

water-base paint (paint in which water is used as the vehicle)

spray paint (paint applied with a spray gun)

semigloss (a paint that dries with a finish between glossy and flat)

oil paint (paint in which a drying oil is the vehicle)

house paint; housepaint (paint used to cover the exterior woodwork of a house)

finger paint; fingerpaint (paint that has the consistency of jelly)

encaustic (a paint consisting of pigment mixed with melted beeswax; it is fixed with heat after application)

enamel (a paint that dries to a hard glossy finish)

distemper (paint made by mixing the pigments with water and a binder)

coat of paint (a layer of paint covering something else)

antifouling paint (a paint used to protect against the accumulation of barnacles etc. on underwater surfaces)

acrylic; acrylic paint (used especially by artists)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("pigment" is a kind of...):

color; coloring material; colour; colouring material (any material used for its color)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "pigment"):

iron blue; Prussian blue (any of various blue pigments)

Payne's gray; Payne's grey (any pigment that produces a greyish to dark greyish blue)

alizarin; alizarine (an orange-red crystalline compound used in making red pigments and in dyeing)

bole (a soft oily clay used as a pigment (especially a reddish brown pigment))

lake (any of numerous bright translucent organic pigments)

lake (a purplish red pigment prepared from lac or cochineal)

orange (any pigment producing the orange color)

water-color; water-colour; watercolor; watercolour (water-soluble pigment)

retinal; retinene (either of two yellow to red retinal pigments formed from rhodopsin by the action of light)

Paris green (a toxic double salt of copper arsenate and copper acetate)

sepia (rich brown pigment prepared from the ink of cuttlefishes)

porphyrin (any of various pigments distributed widely in living tissues)

haem; haemitin; hematin; heme; protoheme (a complex red organic pigment containing iron and other atoms to which oxygen binds)

haemosiderin; hemosiderin (a granular brown substance composed of ferric oxide; left from the breakdown of hemoglobin; can be a sign of disturbed iron metabolism)

ultramarine; ultramarine blue (blue pigment made of powdered lapis lazuli)

photopigment (a special pigment found in the rods and cones of the retina)

cadmium yellow (pigment of cadmium sulfide and barium sulfate varying in hue from lemon yellow to orange)

cupric acetate; verdigris (a blue or green powder used as a paint pigment)

ceruse; lead carbonate; white lead (a poisonous white pigment that contains lead)

Chinese white; zinc white (a white pigment used in house paints; consists of zinc oxide)

chlorophyl; chlorophyll (any of a group of green pigments found in photosynthetic organisms; there are four naturally occurring forms)

bacteriochlorophyll (a substance in photosensitive bacteria that is related to but different from chlorophyll of higher plants)

phycobilin (water-soluble proteinaceous pigments found in red algae and cyanobacteria)

phycoerythrin (red pigment in red algae)

phycocyanin (blue pigment in algae)

titania; titanic oxide; titanium dioxide; titanium oxide (a white powder used as a pigment for its high covering power and durability)

cobalt blue; cobalt ultramarine (greenish-blue pigment consisting essentially of cobalt oxide and alumina)

earth color (a colored mineral used as a pigment)

mosaic gold; stannic sulfide (a yellow pigment sometimes suspended in lacquer)

carotenoid (any of a class of highly unsaturated yellow to red pigments occurring in plants and animals)

animal pigment (pigment occurring in animals)

cerulean blue (light greenish-blue pigment consisting essentially of oxides of cobalt and tin)

chrome green (any of a class of green pigments consisting of chrome yellow and iron blue)

Hooker's green (green pigment consisting of Prussian blue mixed with gamboge)

chrome yellow (any of several yellow pigments consisting of normal lead chromate and other lead compounds)

bister; bistre (a water-soluble brownish-yellow pigment made by boiling wood soot)

flavonoid (any of a large class of plant pigments having a chemical structure based on or similar to flavone)

Indian red (a red pigment composed in part from ferric oxide which is often used in paints and cosmetics)

ivory black (a black pigment made from grinding burnt ivory in oil)

Holonyms ("pigment" is a substance of...):

paint; pigment (a substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating)

Derivation:

pigment (color or dye with a pigment)

pigment (acquire pigment; become colored or imbued)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any substance whose presence in plant or animal tissues produces a characteristic color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("pigment" is a kind of...):

color; coloring material; colour; colouring material (any material used for its color)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Color or dye with a pigment

Example:

pigment a photograph

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "pigment" is one way to...):

color; color in; colorise; colorize; colour; colour in; colourise; colourize (add color to)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Derivation:

pigment (dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Acquire pigment; become colored or imbued

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "pigment" is one way to...):

hue (take on color or become colored)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

pigment (dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.))

pigmentation (coloration of living tissues by pigment)

pigmentation (the deposition of pigment in animals or plants or human beings)

Credits

 Context examples: 

These specialized pigment cells expand and contract and push the pigment to the surface.

(Octopuses can dream, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

It presents as a small pigmented skin lesion.

(Balloon Cell Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)

The cellular infiltrate is composed of spindle-shaped melanocytes with pale cytoplasm alternating with bundles of pigmented spindle-shaped melanocytes.

(Cellular Blue Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)

An intradermal nevus characterized by the presence of benign pigmented dendritic spindle-shaped melanocytes.

(Blue Nevus, NCI Thesaurus)

The pigments are fat-soluble, unsaturated aliphatic hydrocarbons functioning as provitamins and are converted to vitamin A through enzymatic processes in the intestinal wall.

(Carotene, NCI Thesaurus)

Epidermal dendritic pigment cells which control long-term morphological color changes by alteration in their number or in the amount of pigment they produce and store in the pigment containing organelles called MELANOSOMES.

(Murine Melanocytes, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)

This gene plays a role in regulating the growth of retinal pigment epithelial cells and vascular smooth muscle cells.

(BTC Gene, NCI Thesaurus)

A cell in the skin and eyes that produces and contains the pigment called melanin.

(Melanocyte, NCI Dictionary)

A hepatoblastoma characterized by the presence of mixed epithelial and mesenchymal components and additional tissues such as striated muscle, bone, epithelial tissues, and melanin pigment.

(Mixed Hepatoblastoma with Teratoid Features, NCI Thesaurus)

Michler's ketone is used as a chemical intermediate in making dyes and pigments, particularly auramine derivatives, for dyeing paper, textiles, and leather.

(Michler's Ketone, NCI Thesaurus)