To depict means to show or represent something through art, words, or other forms of expression. When an artist depicts a mountain landscape, she creates a painting that shows what those mountains look like. When a historian depicts life in ancient Rome, he describes it in a way that helps readers visualize and understand that world.

While it can describe actual paintings or drawings, it applies to any medium that represents something. A movie might depict a famous battle. A novel might depict a character's inner struggles. A photograph depicts whatever the camera captured.

What makes depict different from simply “show” is that it suggests a deliberate act of representation. When you write a story about your summer vacation, you're depicting your experiences by choosing which details to include and how to present them. The way something is depicted matters. Two students might depict the same soccer game very differently: one focusing on the exciting plays, another on how the team worked together.

Artists, writers, and filmmakers make careful choices about how they depict their subjects, which is why the same historical event can be depicted in multiple ways depending on whose perspective is telling the story.