Definition

1. Verb (transitive):

   • To create a three-dimensional artwork by carving, chiseling, or molding a hard material such as stone, wood, or ice.
   • To shape or form something with great care and artistry, as if one were creating a sculpture.

2. Verb (intransitive):

   • To work as a sculptor; to practice the art of creating sculptures.

Usage Examples

• Verb (transitive):
  • The artist will sculpt a memorial from granite.
  • She learned to sculpt clay into beautiful figures.
• Verb (intransitive):
  • After retiring, he began to paint and sculpt.

Advanced Usage

• "to sculpt one's body": To rigorously train and diet to achieve a very defined, muscular physique, as if carving it from flesh.
  • He spent years in the gym to sculpt his body for the competition.
• Used metaphorically to describe shaping or forming something intangible with precision.
  • The writer sculpted the narrative with great skill.

Variants and Related Words

• Sculptor (n): An artist who creates sculptures.
  • Michelangelo was a famous sculptor.
• Sculpture (n): A work of art created by sculpting.
  • The museum has an ancient Greek sculpture.
• Sculptural (adj): Relating to or resembling sculpture.
  • The building has a sculptural quality.

Synonyms

• Carve: To cut a hard material to form an object (often implies using tools like knives or chisels).
• Chisel: To shape or cut with a chisel (a more specific tool).
• Model: To shape a soft material like clay or wax.
• Form: To give shape to something (more general).

Phrasal Verbs

(This word is not commonly used with particles to form phrasal verbs.)

Related Idioms

• "Sculpt in time": A phrase (from filmmaker Andrei Tarkovsky) meaning to shape or manipulate the perception of time within an artistic work, like a film. It is a metaphorical extension of the word's core meaning.
  • The director's genius was in his ability to sculpt in time.

Verb

1. shape (a material like stone or wood) by whittling away at it
   • She is sculpting the block of marble into an image of her husband
2. create by shaping stone or wood or any other hard material
   • sculpt a swan out of a block of ice