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Dictionary

Words, grammatical forms and meanings linked to the ontology.

vanitas en · NOUN

Pronunciation

  • /ˈvæn.ɪˌtɑs/

Etymology

From Latin vānitās. Doublet of vanity.

Meanings

  1. (qualifier:painting) A type of still life painting, symbolic of mortality, characteristic of Dutch painting of the 16th and 17th centuries.
    • In her straight-ahead photographs of storefronts, an arrangement of shoes or shrink-wrapped furniture becomes a vanitas still life. 2009 March 6, Holland Cotter, “Change and Permanence, Captured by Cameras”, in New York Times:

Forms

SpellingFeaturesLabelsSource
vanitases Number=Plur lexicographic

Relateds

memento mori

Translations (2)

cmn 虛空畫 /虚空画 (type of still life painting) · ja ヴァニタス (type of still life painting)