Definition, CEFR level C2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAn 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.
nounThe outline of a garment as it appears on the wearer.
Sentence Examples
I like the silhouette these clothes give me.
A silhouette of a girl appeared on the curtain.
CEFR Practice Quiz
Against the bright sunset, the tree's ____ was clearly visible on the horizon.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The sun setting behind the mountain created a beautiful ____ of the trees.
Word Origin & History
Borrowed from French silhouette, after Étienne de Silhouette (1709–1767), French Controller of Finances. De Silhouette's penny-pinching led to the French term à la Silhouette, applied to things perceived as cheap or austere, such as an outline filled only with black.
Étienne de Silhouette's surname is, in turn, gallicized Basque. It derives from Ziloeta or Zilhoeta, modern Basque Zulueta, from the local plural (see -ak) stem of zulo (“hole, cave”).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"At Stirling, we obtained a wonderful silhouette view of the Wallace Monument, and the dark line of the Ochil Hills, and the castle stood out clearly against the afterglow of the sunset."
— 1950 January, Arthur F. Beckenham, “With British Railways to the Far North”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:
"Scores of coconut-shell fires blazed with their characteristic glaring white flame, throwing grotesque shadows on the brown thatched huts, dancing fairylike shimmerings among the domes of coconut fronds, casting ghostly reaches of light through the adjacent graveyards, and silhouetting the forms of pareu-clad natives at work cleaning their fish or laying them on the live coals to broil."
— 1929, Robert Dean Frisbee, The Book of Puka-Puka, Eland, published 2019, page 35:
"Driving 2-6-2 locomotive No. 4771 Green Arrow, Blunt suddenly noticed that the tunnel mouth was silhouetted in a dazzling white glare and that incendiary bombs were showering down in their hundreds, he slammed on all his brakes and brought his train to a stop just inside the tunnel."
— 1944 July and August, “Top Link Drivers: XXI—Driver H. Blunt, L.N.E.R.”, in Railway Magazine, page 226: