triptych

noun

1. A picture or series of pictures painted on three tablets connected by hinges.

   “I never thought breastfeeding would be hard. When I thought about it at all, my mind conjured beatific scenes suffused with a sort of religious glow. […] These days I envisage more of a triptych: the infant Jesus spluttering at the breast, face purple with hangry fury; the infant Jesus possetting milk down Mary’s front; the infant Jesus and the nappy explosion.”

2. (broadly)A group of three people or works, especially when considered representative of a particular field or theme.

   “Thus, with the passing years, Papa Wemba, a hardworking and introverted man, has come to embody “African pop,” forming a triptych with Youssou N’Dour and Salif Keita.”

   “Woodson, the recipient of four Newbery Honor awards, has written her first adult novel in 20 years, returning to the Brooklyn setting of “Autobiography of a Family Photo” (1995) and her recent award-winning memoir, “Brown Girl Dreaming.” These works form a triptych of bildungsromans taking place in the author’s hometown and tracking her generation’s coming to adulthood.”

   “The show was the first in a triptych of excellent Australian dramas produced by John Edwards that tapped into the sensibility of a generation. It was followed by the thirtysomething drama, Love My Way, and Tangle, which focused on fortysomethings.”

3. (broadly)A group of three people or works, especially when considered representative of a particular field or theme.

   “The centerpiece of the show is a poised, luminous, tender, and diabolically clever video installation, “Le Triptyque de Noirmoutier” (The Noirmoutier Triptych), which Varda shot on 35-mm. film[…]. The man gets himself a bottle of beer; the older woman heads with dishes from the sink toward the cupboard—and crosses the dividing line of the triptych exactly like crossing a threshold.”

4. (broadly)A group of three people or works, especially when considered representative of a particular field or theme.
5. (figuratively)Any set of three closely connected ideas or objects.

   “Witchcraft, heresy, and counterfeiting formed a triptych in popular imagination and in the law.”

   “The interest here is […] to construct for heuristic purposes a triptych of different “roads to salvation” as reflected in domains of preaching of contemporary Egypt.”

   “There was nothing quite like Hanalei Bay, that great horseshoe of protected water fed by the thick artery of the Hanalei River and framed by a triptych of mountains.”