contour

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That these would hide and conceal her beautiful curves and contour, as well as overweight her, seemed certain; that she would resist them all to the last seemed equally clear.

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Definitions (24)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (9)

  1. noun The outline of a figure, body, or mass.
  2. noun A line that represents such an outline. See Synonyms at form, outline.
  3. noun A surface, especially of a curving form. Often used in the plural.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (4)

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Examples (50)

  • This being once admitted, it is easy to see that the indefinite stability of the rings would have required a regularity of structure throughout their whole contour, which is very improbable. —  Biographies of Distinguished Scientific Men
  • The man had lean shoulders and thin hips which gave him a waspish contour, and he was attired in a fashion that was sartorially perfect-striped trousers, fawn vest and cutaway, and a dislodged silk hat kept pace with his progress down the stairs. —  024 - Red Snow
  • Each have their attractions, each their grandeur, each their sublimity, each their wonderful, awful silence, each their long and glorious landscape views, while, to each, the general contour is the same. —  The Life and Adventures of Kit Carson
  • Impress a contour, and you have a vine-leaf or a commemorative map of some island just added to the Empire. —  process 10
  • But bow shall I attempt to describe to you the St. Catherine! This lovely picture combines all the refined elegance of the Venus de Medici, in form, contour, and flowing lines, with an astonishing delicacy of colour, and masterly yet softened execution. —  RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LATE WILLIAM BECKFORD
 

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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Allen's Allen's Synonyms and Antonyms

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

outline ·  texture ·  curve ·  silhouette ·  shape ·  expanse ·  ridge ·  profile ·  landscape ·  symmetry ·  panorama ·  crest

Used in the same contextWord Family

contour:   contours
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, alteration (influenced by tour, turn) of Italian contorno, from contornare, to draw in outline : Latin com-, intensive pref.; see com- + Latin tornāre, to round off (from tornus, lathe, from Greek tornos; see terə-1 in Indo-European roots).

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. from French contour (= Spanish Portuguese Italian contorno), circuit, circumference, outline, from contourner = Spanish contornar = Portuguese contornear = Italian contornare, from Middle Latin contornare, go round, turn round, from Latin com- (intensive) + tornare, turn: see turn, and cf. tour.
  2. from contour, n.
 

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/kɑnˈtur/
by American Heritage

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