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definitions

matte

1

or mat, matt

[mat]
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adjective

having a dull or lusterless surface: matte paint; a matte complexion; a photograph with a matte finish.

noun

a dull or dead surface, often slightly roughened, as on metals, paint, paper, or glass.
a tool for producing such a surface.
Metallurgy. an unfinished metallic product of the smelting of certain sulfide ores, especially those of copper.
Movies. matte shot.

verb (used with object), mat·ted, mat·ting.

to finish with a matte surface.

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RELATED WORDS

flat, uninspired, boring, muted, ho-hum, subdued, dim, muddy, somber, hazy, dark, lifeless, dismal, cloudy, cold, soft, obscure, bland, stale, weak

Origin of matte

1
1640–50; < French mat (masculine), matte (feminine), Old French < Late Latin mattus moist, soft, weak, perhaps < *maditus, derivative of Latin madēre to be wet

matte

2
[mat]

noun Mining.

a mass of timber caved beneath overburden so as to cushion the fall of the overburden and separate it from mineral to be extracted beneath.

Origin of matte

2
< German; akin to mat1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for matte

Contemporary Examples of matte

Historical Examples of matte

  • Matte Enamel, medium weight; Enameled, medium weight; Velvet, medium weight.

  • Matte and Maie grew fat on this fine living, and daily became richer.

  • There was once a fisherman who was called Salmon, and his Christian name was Matte.

  • The German term in the Glossary for panes ex pyrite is stein, the same as the modern German for matte.

    De Re Metallica

    Georgius Agricola

  • The matte is roasted, re-smelted with lead, and no doubt a button obtained, and further matte.

    De Re Metallica

    Georgius Agricola

British Dictionary definitions for matte

matte

1

noun

an impure fused material consisting of metal sulphides produced during the smelting of a sulphide ore

Word Origin for matte

C19: from French

matte

2

noun

films television a mask used to blank out part of an image so that another image can be superimposed
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
Word Origin and History for matte
n.

"backing for a picture," 1845, from French; see mat (n.2).

n.

variant of mat (n.2).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper