Example Sentences
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Recent Examples of pictogram
The Indus Valley people carved about 400 symbols into stone seals—some animal pictograms, others abstract shapes.
—
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2024
Shigetaka Kurita’s icons were monochromatic pixel pictograms, which Nicolas Loufrani describes as incredibly smart and beautiful representations of concepts on a limited 12 x 12 dot canvas.
—Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 30 July 2024
Akkadian was written in cuneiform, a system invented by the Sumerians that involves engraving pictograms and symbols into clay with a reed stylus.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Aug. 2024
Nevertheless, Kurita’s pictograms bear little resemblance to modern emojis and were more akin to the Macintosh pictograms created by Susan Kare in 1984.
—Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 30 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for pictogram
Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 13 Aug. 2024
Shigetaka Kurita’s icons were monochromatic pixel pictograms, which Nicolas Loufrani describes as incredibly smart and beautiful representations of concepts on a limited 12 x 12 dot canvas.
—Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 30 July 2024
Akkadian was written in cuneiform, a system invented by the Sumerians that involves engraving pictograms and symbols into clay with a reed stylus.
—Sonja Anderson, Smithsonian Magazine, 1 Aug. 2024
Nevertheless, Kurita’s pictograms bear little resemblance to modern emojis and were more akin to the Macintosh pictograms created by Susan Kare in 1984.
—Molly Peck, USA TODAY, 30 July 2024
See All Example Sentences for pictogram
Recent Examples of Synonyms for pictogram
Noun
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The typewriter's ingenuity comes from the way Lin decided to break down Chinese pictographs: by their shapes, not sounds.—
Emily Feng,
NPR,
5 July 2025
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Weave through boulders and around desert plants to reach ancient pictographs emblazoned on the walls of skyscraper-high yardangs (tall rock formations sculpted by the wind), before catching your breath during a picnic lunch.—
Chloe Berge,
Outside Online,
17 June 2025
Noun
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In his letter to Nessel, Runestad pointed to a recent criminal case involving an employee of the Michigan Unemployment Insurance Agency.—
Paul Egan,
Freep.com,
23 July 2025
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Mayes wrote a letter last year to the BIA and its parent agency, the U.S. Department of the Interior, asking officials to fund crucial grid reliability updates as soon as possible and provide cooling centers and ice giveaways during power disruptions, among other actions.—
Sasha Hupka,
AZCentral.com,
23 July 2025
Noun
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Their antecedents are ancient (Egyptian hieroglyphs, Chinese characters, Mesoamerican pictograms), though the journey from their modern birthplace (Japan circa the turn of the millennium) to their current ubiquity has been quick.—
Megan Garber,
The Atlantic,
29 June 2025
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His versatility to play inside and outside along with the potential to run a plethora of route combinations with Lamb could be like deciphering an ancient hieroglyph for opposing defenses.—
Nick Harris,
Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
16 Apr. 2025
Noun
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This erroneous belief that all Chinese characters are ideograms — symbols that express ideas directly, without language — remains widespread today in the West.—
Andrea Long Chu,
Vulture,
6 May 2025
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The encrusted object clearly qualified as cultural property, even more so when the treasure hunters cleaned it up, revealing that the shining chunk was actually an ingot stamped with Chinese ideograms.—
Lauren Collins,
The New Yorker,
22 July 2024
Noun
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The message was turned into binary or Morse code, and then further translated into English letters and Arabic numerals.—
Jack Knudson,
Discover Magazine,
20 June 2025
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But hey, look, the numerals on the clock face now have a translucent frost!—
Adrienne So,
Wired News,
10 June 2025
Noun
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An Igbo native, his reach has extended far beyond ethnic ciphers.—
Ime Ekpo,
Forbes.com,
11 July 2025
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To the police detectives who visit his school, teen behavior is a cipher to be decoded, almost literally: their breakthrough arrives when the lead detective’s young son takes pity on his dad and tells him what all the emojis in Jamie’s Instagram replies mean.—
Molly Fischer,
New Yorker,
30 June 2025
Cite this Entry
“Pictogram.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/pictogram. Accessed 5 Aug. 2025.
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