coiffure
Americannoun
-
coiffures
plural
-
a style of arranging the hair.
-
a head covering; headdress.
verb (used with object)
-
coiffures,
present (3rd person singular)
-
coiffured,
past participle, past
-
coiffuring
present participle
-
to arrange or comb (the hair) in a coiffure; to style (the hair).
-
to provide with a head covering or headdress; cover with a coiffure.
noun
-
a hairstyle
-
an obsolete word for headdress
verb
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
coiffuresimple
-
coiffuressimple
-
have coiffuredperfect
-
has coiffuredperfect
-
am coiffuringprogressive
-
are coiffuringprogressive
-
is coiffuringprogressive
-
have been coiffuringperfect progressive
-
has been coiffuringperfect progressive
Past
-
coiffuredsimple
-
had coiffuredperfect
-
was coiffuringprogressive
-
were coiffuringprogressive
-
had been coiffuringperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of coiffure
First recorded in 1625–35; from French, equivalent to coiff(er) “to dress the hair” + -ure noun suffix; see origin at coif 2, -ure
Explanation
Coiffure is a fancy French word for hairdo. If you spend a lot of time working on your coiffure, you spend a lot of time in front of the mirror fixing your hair. The word coiffure originally meant hairstylist, now it means the style. The word implies an elaborate style, not just a regular haircut. A beehive hairdo, for instance, would be rightly called a coiffure. A military-style buzz cut is just a trim. The word can be shortened to coif, but be careful as this word has other meanings as well.
Vocabulary lists containing coiffure
The Vocabulary.com Top 1000
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Shear Genius: Hairy Vocabulary
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Things Fall Apart
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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.
See Examples For:
Four years ago, as Pence and Harris were discussing systemic racism, a fly settled on the snowy expanse of Pence’s white coiffure — and ended up walking away with the evening’s affair.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 29, 2024
That glorious sweep of a coiffure just has so much to say.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 28, 2024
Sporting a handsome white coiffure and an inviting tone, Ciscomani spoke warmly about his immigrant parents, the price of milk and eggs, the fight against fentanyl and the accessibility of homeownership.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2023
For much of the last two years, though, Mr. Palau has focused his energies on a series of coiffure experiments posted to Instagram and now assembled in a new book published by Idea: “#HairTests.”
From New York Times ● Dec. 9, 2021
Nicole focused on the tub’s label, where a smiling black woman in pearls touched a hand to her shiny-straight coiffure.
From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray
Both pitchers completed their coiffures with an artificial boost this season, adding hair extensions as a means of expressing their individuality.
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 12, 2022
Mr. Forbes was also celebrated for his coloring — bright pink, orange or purple — itself revolutionary after the slicked-back Elvis or moptop Beatles coiffures of Britain’s Swinging Sixties.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 4, 2020
Like a wry little echo chamber, the curls of paper showcase curls of hair in the same spectrum of tones common to both coiffures and photographic prints.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 9, 2019
Ms. Peters’s two works are bronze, hollow-eyed, open-mouthed heads resembling Art Deco versions of archaic Greek sculptures but with exaggerated coiffures adding a weird, surrealistic dimension.
From New York Times ● May 5, 2016
The people were of all positions and persuasions, from court ladies with coiffures that rivaled their skirts in volume to rank-smelling tanners' prentices.
From "The Shakespeare Stealer" by Gary L. Blackwood
Coughlan, who plays the coiffured Penelope Featherington in Netflix period drama Bridgerton, says it was crucial to look "ugly and messy" to play Maggie properly.
From BBC ● Mar. 18, 2024
The telegenic 52-year-old is starting to show faint streaks of gray in his coiffured hair that could turn into a pleasant presidential look when the time comes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 13, 2020
And now, at her first opportunity, she’s in it – dressed up, coiffured, staring unflinchingly at an eminent lens.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 26, 2017
Aye, came his answer, and off went his distinctive checkerboard hat to bounce amid the coiffured bundles of hair.
From New York Times ● Dec. 11, 2015
In the middle of the hard horsehair sofa sat Mrs Fanshawe herself, her elaborately coiffured, elaborately attired figure looking extraordinarily out of place in the prim bareness of the little room.
From The Independence of Claire by Mrs. George de Horne Vaizey
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.
