Online OXFORD Collocation Dictionary

illustration noun

¹ picture in a book etc.

ADJ. black and white, colour/coloured, full-colour | beautiful, lively The clear, lively illustrations are in full colour. | clear | book, cover

ILLUSTRATION + VERB show sth | accompany sth the illustrations accompanying the text

PREP. in an/the ~ The kite is assembled as shown in the illustration. | with an/the ~ | ~ by ‘The Black Cat’ by Alan Ahlberg, with illustrations by Arthur Robins

² example

ADJ. good, excellent, perfect | clear, dramatic, graphic, striking, vivid These events are a graphic illustration of the fact that their promises cannot be trusted. | simple Let us take a very simple illustration. | classic

VERB + ILLUSTRATION serve as Chicago serves as an illustration of the problems faced by such cities. | give (sb), provide Explain the policy of detente and provide some illustrations of how it worked in practice. | take, use sth as/for I will use one recent example as an illustration.

PREP. as an ~ As an illustration of this point, I'm going to tell you a true story. | by way of ~ He quoted several famous writers by way of illustration.