nuance

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This nuance is actually accounted for in Rice's career OPS+ mark because it only dings him about

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Definitions (11)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

  1. noun A subtle or slight degree of difference, as in meaning, feeling, or tone; a gradation.
  2. noun Expression or appreciation of subtle shades of meaning, feeling, or tone: a rich artistic performance, full of nuance.
  3. Syntax Note
    Synonyms: nuance, gradation, shade
    These nouns denote a slight variation or differentiation between nearly identical entities: sensitive to delicate nuances of style; gradations of feeling from infatuation to deep affection; subtle shades of meaning.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (6)

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

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • --Patrick O'Brian Distantly related to "nuance," of all things.
  • Its yielding quality, however, brought it back into more favor in various emotional passages of the Aeneid ; but there it is carefully modified by the introduction of masculine stops before and after, a nuance which is hardly sought after in the Ciris or in Catullus. —  Vergil
  • The cast carries off the tricky balance between high drama and nuance, the characters are driven by recognizable motivations of greed, love, loyalty, and courage, and Jackson's direction is very plainly above reproach. —  Strange Horizons, Dec '01
  • With only a tablespoon or so of lime juice in the cheese mixture it is more of a delicate nuance, a little snap at the end of the swallow. —  Baking Delights
  • But that nuance, and the reasoning behind that nuance, is not something that's ever going to translate to the mostly-wisdom free province of the internet message board. —  Dead Things ON Sticks
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Related

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

nicety ·  inflection ·  subtlety ·  intricacy ·  shading ·  gradation ·  ambiguity ·  intonation ·  complexity ·  meaning ·  richness ·  quirk

Used in the same contextWord Family

nuance:   nuances
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, from Old French, from nuer, to shade, cloud, from nue, cloud, from Vulgar Latin *nūba, from Latin nūbēs.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. French, shading, shade, from nuer, shade, from nue, a cloud, from Latin nubes, a cloud.
  2. French nuancer, from nuance, shading. See nuance, n.
 

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/njuˈɑns/
by American Heritage

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