noun
- the art of carving, modeling, welding, or otherwise producing figurative or abstract works of art in three dimensions, as in relief, intaglio, or in the round.
- such works of art collectively.
- an individual piece of such work.
verb (used with object), sculp·tured, sculp·tur·ing.
- to carve, model, weld, or otherwise produce (a piece of sculpture).
- to produce a portrait or image of in this way; represent in sculpture.
- Physical Geography. to change the form of (the land surface) by erosion.
verb (used without object), sculp·tured, sculp·tur·ing.
- to work as a sculptor.
noun
- the art of making figures or designs in relief or the round by carving wood, moulding plaster, etc, or casting metals, etc
- works or a work made in this way
- ridges or indentations as on a shell, formed by natural processes
- the gradual formation of the landscape by erosion
verb (mainly tr)
- (also intr) to carve, cast, or fashion (stone, bronze, etc) three dimensionally
- to portray (a person, etc) by means of sculpture
- to form in the manner of sculpture, esp to shape (landscape) by erosion
- to decorate with sculpture
n.late 14c., from Latin sculptura “sculpture,” from past participle stem of sculpere “to carve, engrave,” back-formation from compounds such as exculpere, from scalpere “to carve, cut,” from PIE root *(s)kel- (1) “to cut, cleave” (see scale (n.1)).