stock photo

noun

plural stock photos

: a photographic image of a generic subject (such as a person, object, or location) that is kept for later use

Prevailing wisdom among dealers is that online shoppers prefer real photos of new vehicles in inventory over stock photos from the manufacturer and others.—

David Barkholz

[Suzanne] Rodriguez has more than a decade of experience in digital advertising and professional photography. Stock photos often can be found on the websites of small businesses, but custom photos provide a more accurate characterization of the firm, she said.—

Kevin Oklobzija

When the National Enquirer needed a close-up photo of a snail for one of its … stories, it didn't send a phalanx of photographers out into the garden with cameras in hand. Instead, it called on a small stock photo service in Chatham that specializes in pictures of animals and nature …—

Michael Farrell

Examples of stock photo in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The stock photo is on the left, and the AI fake is on the right. —

Jon Brodkin, Ars Technica, 24 July 2024 Before the 2023 film Forest Hills, her last role had been in 2002—there just isn't the treasure trove of recent stock photos to choose from as there is for, say, a Donald Sutherland. —

April Daniels Hussar, Allure, 12 July 2024 In January 2019, an Instagram post with a stock photo of an egg received over 45 million likes in less than two weeks. —

Adam Bumas, WIRED, 10 July 2024 Commercial modeling and stock photos did not yet exist. —

Sohini Desai, Smithsonian Magazine, 5 July 2024 See all Example Sentences for stock photo

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'stock photo.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.