tapestry

/ˈtæpəstri/

/ˈtæpɪstri/

Other forms: tapestries

A tapestry is a picture woven into cloth. It's a decorative rug you hang on the wall, with detailed images or designs on it. Some tapestries, like the famous Unicorn Tapestries, tell stories with their pictures.

Weaving an image into cloth is a brilliant idea — it makes art accessible and portable. And a tapestry offers something a painting can't: warmth. Think of those cold castle walls in medieval Europe, add a tapestry, and you're warmer already. You can use tapestry to describe anything that's multi-layered and complex, like the tapestry of life in a rural town, or the tapestry of your family history, or the tapestry of plot and character in your favorite novel.

Definitions of tapestry

1. noun

   a wall hanging of heavy handwoven fabric with pictorial designs
   synonyms: arras

   type of:

   hanging, wall hanging

   decoration that is hung (as a tapestry) on a wall or over a window
2. noun

   a heavy textile with a woven design; used for curtains and upholstery
   synonyms: tapis

   type of:

   cloth, fabric, material, textile

   artifact made by weaving or felting or knitting or crocheting natural or synthetic fibers
3. noun

   something that resembles a tapestry in its complex pictorial designs
   “the tapestry of European history”

   type of:

   complexity, complexness

   the quality of being intricate and compounded