noun
caption
KAP-shuhn
noun
1
A short piece of text that explains or accompanies an image, video, or on-screen dialogue.
"The photo's caption identified everyone standing in the group shot."
"She turned on captions so she could follow the film without sound."
verb
1
To add a caption to an image, film, or broadcast.
"The studio captioned the entire series for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers."
How to Use Caption
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe label or short text under a picture, or the subtitles on a video.
Common pairings
photo caption
closed captions
caption a photo
Word Forms
captioned past tense, captions plural, captions singular
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The photo's _____ identified everyone standing in the group shot.
Etymology
From Latin captio, "a taking, a seizing," from capio, "to take" — the sense shifted over time from a legal "taking" to the modern "heading" or "label."