vignette

American  

[vin-yet] / vɪnˈyɛt /

noun

1. a decorative design or small illustration used on the title page of a book or at the beginning or end of a chapter.

2. an engraving, drawing, photograph, or the like that is shaded off gradually at the edges so as to leave no definite line at the border.

3. a decorative design representing branches, leaves, grapes, or the like, as in a manuscript.

4. any small, pleasing picture or view.

5. a small, graceful literary sketch.

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verb (used with object)

vignetted, vignetting

1. Photography. to finish (a picture, photograph, etc.) in the manner of a vignette.

vignette British  

/ vɪˈnjɛt /

noun

1. a small illustration placed at the beginning or end of a book or chapter

2. a short graceful literary essay or sketch

3. a photograph, drawing, etc, with edges that are shaded off

4. architect a carved ornamentation that has a design based upon tendrils, leaves, etc

5. any small endearing scene, view, picture, etc

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verb

1. to finish (a photograph, picture, etc) with a fading border in the form of a vignette

2. 1. to decorate with vignettes

   2. to portray in or as in a vignette

Usage

What does vignette mean? A vignette is a small illustration or design, especially one that appears on a book’s title page or between chapters. This primary meaning of vignette has been extended in several ways, such as to refer to other small illustrations or images done in a similar style, or to brief scenes from literature or other works. Vignette can also be used as a verb, meaning to create such a thing or to do something in the style of a vignette. Example: I love these old books that have lovely vignettes at the beginning of each chapter.

Other Word Forms

• vignettist
  noun

Etymology

Origin of vignette

1745–55; < French: literally, little vine ( see vine, -ette); so called from vinelike decorations in early books

Explanation

A vignette is a brief but powerful scene. A good vignette leaves you wanting more. Over the centuries a vignette has taken on different forms. Originally it was one of those small sketches you find in the front of old books, often with decorative bands of ivy around its edges (the word comes from the French vigne for vineyard). When cinema came along, a vignette became a quick portrait in film of a character. Some films, like Robert Altman's Short Cuts, are essentially just a compilation of individual vignettes.

Example Sentences

Together, Sullivan and Norman founded Vignette Films, which produced animated shorts educating high-school students on Black historical figures, from George Washington Carver to Booker T. Washington.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 30, 2023

It was never really part of the original feature script I wrote, which was very focused on Philo and Vignette.

From The Verge • Sep. 10, 2019

Even so, Bloom’s Rycroft Philostrate meets and falls in love Delevingne’s Vignette Stonemoss during the war, when he is a Burguish solider and she a freedom fighter.

From Salon • Aug. 29, 2019

Featuring Cara Delevingne and Orlando Bloom as a Faerie named Vignette and a police inspector investigating a string of serial murders named Rycroft Philostrate.

From New York Times • Aug. 1, 2019

Here is a brace of vignettes by the Old Vignette Master ... short and sharp ... like a hypodermic!

From Two Timer by Brown, Fredric

Related Words

• scenario
• scene
• sketch