chiaroscuro
Americannoun
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the distribution of light and shade in a picture.
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Painting. the use of deep variations in and subtle gradations of light and shade, especially to enhance the delineation of character and for general dramatic effect.
Rembrandt is a master of chiaroscuro.
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a woodcut print in which the colors are produced by the use of different blocks with different colors.
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a sketch in light and shade.
noun
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the artistic distribution of light and dark masses in a picture
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monochrome painting using light and dark only, as in grisaille
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of chiaroscuro
1680–90; < Italian, equivalent to chiaro bright (< Latin clārus ) + oscuro dark (< Latin obscūrus ). See clear, obscure
Explanation
Chiaroscuro is an Italian artistic term used to describe the dramatic effect of contrasting areas of light and dark in an artwork, particularly paintings. It comes from the combination of the Italian words for "light" and "dark." Nowadays chiaroscuro applies to a far wider array of dramatic lighting effects, particularly in movies — anything dark and moody with great slashes of shadow, is very chiaroscuro. Film Noir, of all the film genres, is the best example of chiaroscuro. Chiaroscuro remains essentially a technical word, though, and is not often used in everyday conversation — unless you happen to be a film critic of course.
Vocabulary lists containing chiaroscuro
Stroke of Genius: Words About Painting
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Visual Arts - High School
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Art History
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
“There’s an authenticity to noir. Nothing is just black or white. Everything is chiaroscuro and there’s complexity and depth and nuance to each of the characters,” Cage explains.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
If you tried, you could even hum much of it, even though its rhythms and chiaroscuro sonic colors were at least as important to its appeal.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 22, 2026
Those who appreciate a little chiaroscuro interplay in their trashy TV ensembles might fall for this guy, if only for being a potent, balancing opposition to Rapaport’s windbaggery.
From Salon • Jan. 15, 2026
Like her day-to-day life, it is a work of chiaroscuro, a portrait of extremes: roses and guns.
From Seattle Times • Feb. 21, 2024
What Corelli did was create a musical version of chiaroscuro by contrasting a big-sounding band of stringed instruments with a small group, switching between the big and the small throughout the piece.
From "The Story of Music" by Howard Goodall
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
