Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A drawing consisting of the outline of something, especially a human profile, filled in with a solid color.
- n. An outline that appears dark against a light background. See Synonyms at outline.
- v. To cause to be seen as a silhouette; outline: Figures were silhouetted against the setting sun.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Originally, a portrait in black or some other uniform tint, sometimes varied as to the bailor other parts by lighter lines or a lightening of shade, showing the profile as cast by a candle on a sheet of paper; hence, any opaque portrait, design, or image in profile. Silhouette portraits wore very common throughout the early years of the nineteenth century, and arc often cut out of black paper.
- n. Opaque representation or exhibition in profile; the figure made by the shadow or a shadowy outline of an object; shadow.
- To represent or exhibit in silhouette; make or bring out a shaded profile or outline view of: used chiefly or only in the past participle.
Wiktionary
- n. An illustrated outline filled in with a solid color(s), usually only black, and intended to represent the shape of an object without revealing any other visual details; a similar appearance produced when the object being viewed is situated in relative darkness with brighter lighting behind it; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be.
- v. To represent by a silhouette; to project upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A representation of the outlines of an object filled in with a black color; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be.
- v. Recent To represent by a silhouette; to project upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette.
WordNet 3.0
- v. project on a background, such as a screen, like a silhouette
- n. a drawing of the outline of an object; filled in with some uniform color
- n. an outline of a solid object (as cast by its shadow)
- v. represent by a silhouette
Etymologies
- Borrowing from French silhouette (Wiktionary)
- French, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709-1767), French finance minister. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“He was dropped off in front of his driveway at what he estimated to be 12: 05 a.m. when he saw what he described as a silhouette go from the trailer court to the field near his residence, in what was an often-traveled way to the court for people who lived there.”
“Super Sally E. hooping in silhouette on the Lagoa (lagoon) in Florianopolis, Brazil.”
“Tamaranth's Non-Ephemera things mean a lot tuesday in silhouette”
“When I looked up the etymology of the word silhouette and saw his name, I thought a virus had somehow infected my copy of the OED.”
“Victims of his high taxes complained and used the word silhouette to refer to their wealth being reduced to a mere shadow of what it once was.”
“The most pronounced element of the car is its rakish, coupe-like silhouette, which is a function of where the roofline lands on the rear deck.”
The Wall Street Journal: Jaguar XJ: The Hottest Cat on the Road
“Kenneth Josephson's shadow falls across his son, "Matthew, 1963," an infant lying on the ground swaddled in white; we know the silhouette is the child's father because it hovers protectively over the sleeping figure.”
“Her silhouette was a classic one, but the color and fabric were quite modern.”
Bonnie Fuller: It's Official! Michelle O. Is The New Jackie O., Say Fashion Pros
“BTW, where are the profiles in courage, aka silhouette pix of Ian and Tessa's scary-hairy and very-very tummies?”
“But some parents didn't expect to be separated from the kids so they don't have pictures and you only see a silhouette, which is on the screen right now.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘silhouette’.
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Artistic words
Good for poetry, or just artistic on their own.
fluxus, gallant, kinetic, lurk, disengage, mist, agleam, voyeur, devoid, crimson, ebony, azure and 94 more...
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AGRI - horse breeding
place bet, Przewalski's horse, piaffe, genus Claviceps, stadium jumping, draft animal, snaffle bit, noseband, equestrian sport, endurance riding, curb bit, dressage and 678 more...
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pretty
pretty words.
nymph, silhouette, cosmic, pixie, illumination, serendipity, starlight, wanderlust, moon, Lyra, lullaby, effervescent and 26 more...
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My favorite sounds
My favorite words to say.
ubiquitous, nightingale, silhouette, crevice, gloom, acquiesce, maniacal, plethora, serendipitous, oceanic, dollop
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Sophaloaf's list
Favorites!
belle, starfish, photography, buddha, dinosaur, floccinaucinihili..., hypoallergenic, sailor, gorgeous, adhesive, imagination, artichokes and 55 more...
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Poetry
lucid, silhouette, ethereal, illumination, serenity, requiem, adieu, celestial, esoteric, myriad, ebony, kaleidoscope and 16 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Words For Novel
viridity, effigy, paragon, congested, acrid, lilting, clandestine, plethora, accolade, sardonic, naïve, reckoning and 285 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, S
scrunch, solace, sabotage, saccade, sacerdotal, sacrilegious, sacristy, snappy, skew, steadfast, scowl, scorch and 781 more...
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The Most Beautiful Words in the Engli...
mellifluous, obscure, star-crossed, undulating, solstice, messiah, audacious, solace, twilight, wanderlust, lovelorn, byzantine and 219 more...
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Wordplay
reticent, slammerkin, moonstruck, zephyr, gallivant, hullabaloo, pandemonium, equestrian, wallflower, martyr, threadbare, treacherous and 180 more...
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Vocab
Words that I come across, and go blank, or want to clarify.
nefarious, edifice, malevolent, ostensible, folderol, bauble, livid, amnesty, calculus, saddlery, maisonette, cuisse and 423 more...
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Misc. Words.
Words I like to use, words I like but may forget.
corrosion, astonish, solace, ferment, continuum, kinesthetic, permeate, repose, caprice, cardinal, discourse, surrender and 610 more...
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Idk, I like these words.
ethereality, apathy, consideration, soul, safety, lone wolf, darkness, pressure, ocean, few, collapse, believe and 155 more...
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MIX DES CULTURES
french words & english ones
des mots français & d'autres anglaisà gogo, tchétchène, faciès, déviant, gamin, superette, grigri, diantre, in jeopardy, syncope, primrose, menthe and 92 more...
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Words of the Day
glabella, chirotony, nook-shotten, crapehanger, filemot, swirlie, egosurf, lexiphanicism, Ruritanian, stichometry, chrononaut, faldstool and 2263 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for silhouette.

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