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Definition of TRIPTYCH

️Wed Feb 05 2025

: a picture (such as an altarpiece) or carving in three panels side by side

: something composed or presented in three parts or sections

: an ancient Roman writing tablet with three waxed leaves hinged together

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A painted or carved triptych typically has three hinged panels, and the two outer panels can be folded in towards the central one. A literary or musical triptych generally consists of three closely related or contrasting themes or parts. Triptych derives from the Greek triptychos ("having three folds"), formed by combining tri- ("three") and ptychē ("fold" or "layer"). Although triptych originally described a specific type of Roman writing tablet that had three hinged sections, it is not surprising that the idea was generalized first to a type of painting, and then to anything composed of three parts.

Examples of triptych in a Sentence

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For many, this wall was the highlight of the show: Van Gogh had envisioned such a triptych in a letter to his brother, Theo. —Amelia Nierenberg, New York Times, 20 Jan. 2025 Michael Dougherty’s masterful Halloween triptych tells three sinister stories about the inhabitants of a small town (including Anna Paquin, Brian Cox, and Leslie Bibb) who encounter a variety of frights on All Hallow’s Eve. —EW.com, 31 Oct. 2024 Aris’ supernatural romance follows a Beirut couple brought together and torn apart by cosmic forces, while Hadid’s doc is the middle part of a triptych that follows a traveling brotherhood of horsemen across Morocco. —Ben Croll, Variety, 5 Dec. 2024 Greg bolted the panels to the window like a triptych. —Paige Williams, The New Yorker, 25 Nov. 2024 See all Example Sentences for triptych