A depiction is a representation or portrayal of something, showing what it looks like or what it's about. When an artist creates a depiction of a mountain landscape, she's showing you the mountains through her painting. When a book offers a depiction of life in ancient Rome, it's describing and portraying what that world was like.

While the word originally referred to paintings and drawings, it now applies to any way of showing or representing something. A movie's depiction of a historical event shows how the filmmakers imagined it happened. A diagram's depiction of the solar system represents the planets and their positions.

Notice that different depictions of the same thing can vary widely. Three students might each create different depictions of their school, one focusing on the playground, another on the library, and the third on a favorite classroom. A depiction involves choices about what to show, what to emphasize, and what to leave out. When someone says “that's not an accurate depiction,” they mean the representation doesn't match reality very well. Strong depictions help us understand, imagine, or remember what something is really like.