How to Use hieroglyphic in a Sentence

hieroglyphic

1 of 2 adjective
  • In the top of the loaf, Blackley carved the hieroglyphic for bread bun.
    — Maria Lovato, BostonGlobe.com, 7 Aug. 2019
  • No flip-wrist band with hieroglyphic shorthand for who all must make this spring football thing work.
    — Roy S. Johnson | [email protected], al, 18 Feb. 2022
  • Sheets of paper with the ink draining off into hieroglyphic smears.
    — New York Times, 14 Oct. 2022
  • Mayan statues flanked the stairs, and the theater had hieroglyphic-like figures around the top of the ceiling.
    — Dan Austin, Detroit Free Press, 1 Sep. 2017
  • Below, 30 lines of hieroglyphic text are engraved in the stone.
    — Irene Wright, Miami Herald, 10 Sep. 2025
  • Pieces had broken off, not just from its hieroglyphic text but from the Demotic and Greek texts as well.
    — The New Yorker, 22 Nov. 2021
  • Rocks and boulders added to the stage production, anchored by an arch with hieroglyphic text added for extra detail.
    — Demicia Inman, VIBE.com, 22 Dec. 2025
  • They’re all written in a foreign language only a hieroglyphic lawyer can decipher.
    — J.d. Crowe | [email protected], al, 20 Oct. 2020
  • But software still hides functions behind hieroglyphic icons and impossible-to-guess finger swipes.
    — Geoffrey A. Fowler, WSJ, 9 Aug. 2017
  • No athlete anywhere will ever have a mid-motion logo as triumphantly hieroglyphic as his, the silhouette as sentence.
    — Wesley Morris, New York Times, 19 Apr. 2020
  • The original tattooed woman assessed by Austin has cross patterns on her arms and hieroglyphic-like elements elsewhere.
    — Jason Daley, Smithsonian, 5 Dec. 2019
  • Early adopters are using these hieroglyphic identifiers, called Yats, as URLs.
    — Rachel Wolfe, WSJ, 8 Feb. 2022
  • The standouts, however, came in the form of hieroglyphic representations.
    — Paige Reddinger, Robb Report, 12 June 2026
  • The landscape of the ancient Maya is stippled with ruins whose names are unknown to scholars and whose hieroglyphic inscriptions mention scores of places, the locations of which are now lost.
    — Franz Lidz Meghan Dhaliwal, New York Times, 13 Sep. 2022
  • In place of three simple vertical lines on square 28 of early senet boards, for example, some now had three hieroglyphic birds that Egyptians used to symbolize the soul.
    — Colin Barras, Science | AAAS, 6 Feb. 2020
  • Some, like the Aztec and Maya, had hieroglyphic systems, but those symbols offered little insight into the spoken languages themselves.
    — Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, Smithsonian Magazine, 4 May 2023
  • The Maya created a distinctive system of hieroglyphic writing.
    — Elizabeth Landau, Smithsonian Magazine, 17 June 2020
  • In order to make players feel like true archaeologists, Inkle created an entirely new hieroglyphic language from scratch.
    — Andrew Webster, The Verge, 3 Apr. 2018
  • Through the use of backlighting, their silhouettes will be thrown onto the facing walls to form a shadow sculpture evoking primitive graffiti or a hieroglyphic-like language.
    — Sandra Salibian, Footwear News, 9 June 2026
  • Walls were seen decorated with hieroglyphic inscriptions and images of sacred animals and after-life items used by ancient Egyptians.
    — Samy Magdy, USA TODAY, 24 Mar. 2022
  • The peninsula is the likely location of several missing ancient kingdoms — mentioned in hieroglyphic inscriptions, but lost to time.
    — Whitney Leaming, Washington Post, 9 Dec. 2022
  • Its pyramids and temples are better preserved than those at Chichen Itza, with clearly visible intricate hieroglyphic carvings.
    — Shivani Vora, https://www.inquirer.com, 6 June 2019
  • That meant the demotic and hieroglyphic portions would be similar to the Greek text, and for the first time ever, scholars had a shot at understanding the mysterious symbols.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 29 Dec. 2022
  • One scholar, for example, identified the hieroglyphic symbol for Queen Cleopatra.
    — Emilie Le Beau Lucchesi, Discover Magazine, 29 Dec. 2022
  • Trottinettes—those narrow, elegant scooters—glide among the lanes, their drivers perfectly erect, one foot behind the other, like hieroglyphic Egyptian figures.
    — Roxana Robinson, The New Yorker, 11 Oct. 2021
  • The ancient Maya were skilled farmers and developed the science of astronomy, calendar systems and hieroglyphic writing.
    — Ana Gershanik, NOLA.com, 11 Apr. 2018
  • The first inscription is in classic hieroglyphics, the next is in a simplified hieroglyphic script known as Demotic, and the third is in Ancient Greek.
    — Jack B. Jeffery, Anchorage Daily News, 30 Nov. 2022
  • Those areas of population density don’t always map onto the areas that researchers had assumed were most important based on hieroglyphic texts, Garrison says.
    — Nathaniel Scharping, Discover Magazine, 27 Sep. 2018
  • Artifacts recovered from the rectangular graves include silver rings, funerary vessels and a seal bearing a hieroglyphic inscription.
    — Meilan Solly, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Apr. 2021
  • Culturally, the Maya invented a hieroglyphic writing system, still not fully deciphered.
    — Holland Cotter, New York Times, 19 Jan. 2023

hieroglyphic

2 of 2 noun
  • Players can see the gold and blue of the sphinx, and the rich browns, blues and greens of the hieroglyphics and murals on the temple walls.
    — Justin Porter, New York Times, 16 May 2018
  • By the time the interview was done, my notes were as legible as a giant block of hieroglyphics.
    — Mary Schmich, chicagotribune.com, 23 Aug. 2019
  • And making this scene feel authentic required more than etching a few hieroglyphics on the walls.
    — Angelique Jackson, Variety, 22 Aug. 2023
  • There, a 20-foot tall obelisk and pedestal, inscribed with hieroglyphics and Greek, caught Bankes' eye.
    — Smithsonian, 19 Apr. 2017
  • Each was the son of a local governor, according to the hieroglyphics.
    — Ben Guarino, Washington Post, 19 Jan. 2018
  • The saucer was covered in hieroglyphics when the men discovered it in 1957.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 20 Feb. 2018
  • Three songs inscribed in hieroglyphics at Luxor reveal the words chanted by priests and priestesses.
    — National Geographic, 25 June 2019
  • There's also a vast collection of hieroglyphics and the sacred tomb of King Pakal.
    — Christin Parcerisa Vigueras, Travel + Leisure, 11 Apr. 2023
  • The panels here are set up in a similar way to hieroglyphics, where the panels merge into the tunnels in a pace that echoes drum beats or machine knocking.
    — Literary Hub, 8 Dec. 2025
  • Plumage has been in fashion since ancient Egypt, when ostrich feathers were used to decorate fans and even appeared in hieroglyphics.
    — Leah Dolan, CNN Money, 30 Oct. 2025
  • For most of your predecessors, pitching was like reading hieroglyphics.
    — Kevin Sherrington feb. 25, Dallas Morning News, 25 Feb. 2026
  • The posing seen in Old Way is very similar to the characters drawn in the hieroglyphics found in Egypt.
    — Rooney, Teen Vogue, 30 June 2017
  • After it was pried open, a book made of 17 thin copper sheets, each one inscribed with additional hieroglyphics, was found inside.
    — Brigit Katz, Smithsonian, 20 Feb. 2018
  • In Ancient Egypt, the tombs of royals were covered in hieroglyphics and intricate burial tableaux.
    — Erin Blakemore, Smithsonian, 26 Apr. 2017
  • The cover is etched with scientific hieroglyphics that spell out our star’s address among the nearest pulsars, as well as the unit of time for the record’s speed and instructions to play it.
    — Rachel Cormack, Robb Report, 20 July 2023
  • To the average recreational golfer, the books might resemble something like hieroglyphics.
    — Carlos Monarrez, Detroit Free Press, 26 June 2019
  • This Zamalek store is light-filled and packed with table linens, bedding, and accessories hand-embroidered with palm trees, pyramids, and hieroglyphics.
    — Nicola Chilton, Condé Nast Traveler, 12 Aug. 2025
  • Hieroglyphics show the very first perfumers were Egyptian priests who used aromatic resins to make the scent of sacrificial offerings a tad sweeter.
    — Kelsey Kloss, ELLE Decor, 5 Aug. 2016
  • Advertisement The main stage is framed by an arch of mini glowing UFOs and alien hieroglyphics awash in purple and green lights.
    — Nate Jackson, Los Angeles Times, 8 June 2023
  • The glass, etched with descriptions in Greek and hieroglyphics, was a foundation plate that said the temple was dedicated to the goddess Isis.
    — Ashley Strickland, CNN Money, 26 Sep. 2025
  • But by now the rovás are part of the nationalist imaginary, the hieroglyphics of the ancient Turantan-Magyar race.
    — Jacob Mikanowski, Harper's magazine, 21 July 2019
  • The scientific hieroglyphic on them that resembles a burst of fireworks is actually a map of the frequencies of the thirteen nearest pulsars.
    — Ann Druyan, National Geographic, 10 July 2019
  • Every square inch of it—the walls, ceilings, columns, and numerous chapels used to house offerings to the gods—is covered in breathtakingly intricate hieroglyphics.
    — Jessica Puckett, Condé Nast Traveler, 13 Dec. 2022
  • In Alexandria, at about the same time, a slab of igneous rock etched with Greek and hieroglyphics was packed onto a 40-gun ship and made to brave the waves of the Mediterranean.
    — Ross Andersen, The Atlantic, 20 Sep. 2023
  • Despite the presence of video displays that explain the material, many non-architects, to whom the drawings will be as understandable as hieroglyphics, are likely to be put off.
    — Blair Kamin, chicagotribune.com, 11 June 2017
  • Inspired by two-dimensional hieroglyphics, the dance is punctuated by the Graham technique, with stylish poses that accent the two-movement pas de deux.
    — Sharma Howard, courant.com, 25 July 2017
  • Egyptian hieroglyphics indicate that the art of sugar confectionery was established at least 3,000 years ago.
    — Encyclopedia Britannica, 31 Mar. 2026
  • The hieroglyphics and artwork on the courtyard walls outside match the original theater design, including the sphinxes, ancient markers of mystery and quiet.
    — Elvia Limón, Los Angeles Times, 31 Aug. 2023
  • Early in the meditative travel drama Luxor, a woman crumples in front of a colossal stone wall carved with Egyptian hieroglyphics.
    — Inkoo Kang, The Hollywood Reporter, 4 Feb. 2020
  • Researchers opened the coffin in June to take pictures of the hieroglyphics underneath, according to Mashable, and found human feet, ankles and other bones.
    — Josh Magness, miamiherald, 27 Mar. 2018

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

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