lineament
Americannoun
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Often lineaments. a feature or detail of a face, body, or figure, considered with respect to its outline or contour.
His fine lineaments made him the very image of his father.
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Usually lineaments. distinguishing features; distinctive characteristics.
the lineaments of sincere repentance.
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Geology. a linear topographic feature of regional extent that is believed to reflect underlying crustal structure.
noun
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a facial outline or feature
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a distinctive characteristic or feature
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geology any long natural feature on the surface of the earth, such as a fault, esp as revealed by aerial photography
Other Word Forms
- lineamental adjective
- lineamentation noun
Etymology
Origin of lineament
First recorded in 1450–1500; late Middle English, from Latin līneāmentum “a stroke, line (made with a pen, chalk, etc.)”; plural, “features, drawings,” equivalent to līneā(re) “to reduce to a straight line, draw or trace lines,” (derivative of līnea; line 1 ) + -mentum -ment
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.
“A number of faults and lineaments have been mapped in the range, with no known earthquakes on any of them,” says Hubbard.
From National Geographic
He rose and came towards me, and I saw his face all kindled, and his full falcon-eye flashing, and tenderness and passion in every lineament.
From Literature
The characters have been flecked with a few human lineaments.
From Los Angeles Times
For the best science fiction and fantasy to use the supernatural to illuminate the lineaments of ordinary oppression, it has to know where those invisible lines are in the first place.
From Salon
After the kids are dropped at school, I take a circuitous route back home, to trace the lineaments of the past in the bricks and pavements of this familiar acre of London.
From Washington Post
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.
