Fauve

[ fohv ]

/ foʊv /

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noun

(sometimes lowercase) any of a group of French artists of the early 20th century whose works are characterized chiefly by the use of vivid colors in immediate juxtaposition and contours usually in marked contrast to the color of the area defined.

QUIZ

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If autumn is your ideal season, spice up your repertoire of "fall" vocabulary with this quiz on some warm and vivid descriptive words for the season.

Question 1 of 10

Which of the following words means “to make a crackling sound; crackle”?

crisp

crepitate

fuscous

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Origin of Fauve

1910–15; <French: wild beast, noun use of fauve wild, literally, tawny <Germanic; see fallow²

OTHER WORDS FROM Fauve

Fauvism, nounFauvist, noun

Words nearby Fauve

Faustian bargain, Faustus, faut, faute de mieux, fauteuil, Fauve, faux, fauxbourdon, faux-naïf, faux pas, fava bean

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use Fauve in a sentence

In managing the wild instincts of the scarce manageable bête fauve my powers would revel.
Shirley|Charlotte Bront
Fauve is always used of what is dark and gloomy, just as vermeil is always applied to what is bright and pleasant.
La Lgende des Sicles|Victor Hugo
Its mass is irregular, its colour fauve; it is hard and compact, and pierced with small holes.
The Ocean World:|Louis Figuier

British Dictionary definitions for Fauve

Fauve

/ (French fov) /

noun

one of a group of French painters prominent from 1905, including Matisse, Vlaminck, and Derain, characterized by the use of bright colours and simplified forms

adjective

(often not capital) of this group or its style

Derived forms of Fauve

Fauvism, nounFauvist, noun, adjective

Word Origin for Fauve

C20: from French, literally: wild beast, alluding to the violence of colours, etc

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012