nuance

American  

[noo-ahns, nyoo-, noo-ahns, nyoo-, ny-ahns] / ˈnu ɑns, ˈnju-, nuˈɑns, nju-, nüˈɑ̃s /

noun

• nuances
  plural

1. a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.

   Synonyms:

   refinement, nicety, subtlety, shading, shade

2. a very slight difference or variation in color or tone.

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verb (used with object)

nuanced, nuancing

1. to give nuance to; to color.

   She carefully nuanced her words, to put a positive spin on the situation.

nuance British  

/ njuːˈɑːns, ˈnjuːɑːns /

noun

1. a subtle difference in colour, meaning, tone, etc; a shade or graduation

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verb

1. to give subtle differences to

   carefully nuanced words

nuance Cultural  

1. A fine shade of meaning: “I liked the film, but I know I missed some of its nuances.”

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• nuanced
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• nuances
  plural

Etymology

Origin of nuance

First recorded in 1775–85; from French: “shade, hue,” equivalent to nu(er) “to shade” (literally, “to cloud”), from unattested Vulgar Latin nūbāre, derivative of unattested nūba, for Latin nūbēs “cloud”) + -ance noun suffix; see -ance

Explanation

Use nuance to refer to a very small difference in color, meaning, or feeling. What makes singers brilliant is not how loud they can sing a note, but how many nuances they can evoke through their approach. Pronounced "NOO-ahns," this noun was borrowed from French in the 18th century and derives ultimately from Latin nūbēs "a cloud." Think of clouds––subtle gradations in color to understand this word. When you say a work of art was nuanced, it means there was a lot to it, but incorporated subtly.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

nuance nuances nuanced nuancing

It's that nuance, Lizzy says, which is often lost in discussions of attachment theory.

From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026

Bob Lang, founder of the options-trading service Explosive Options, said an important nuance is that not every hyperscaler funds its capital expenditures with external financing.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

The tension between the various competing interests is handled with nuance and without taking sides, all while showing both the pitfalls and the wondrous potential of this annual spectacle.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 7, 2026

Systems optimized for engagement rewarded outrage and down-ranked nuance, as trust in these tools eroded.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 22, 2026

You must struggle to truly remember this past in all its nuance, error, and humanity.

From "Between the World and Me" by Ta-Nehisi Coates

There are nuances to VIX futures and options, and their corresponding ETFs and ETNs, that many traders do not fully understand.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 23, 2026

One of the impacts of this is that small nuances of driving can have a disproportionately large impact on energy availability.

From BBC ● Jul. 21, 2026

Flattening these nuances into a single feature film would be impossible.

From Salon ● Jul. 8, 2026

All four players are exceptional in their roles, playing smartly off their screen personas while exploring the nuances of the characters and their intersecting dynamics.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 25, 2026

For years he’d been studying the nuances of their games: their styles, opening preferences, strengths and weaknesses.

From "Endgame" by Frank Brady

All of them bring nuanced views to the debate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026

Robo advisers can’t handle nuanced financial planning, like tax-optimization strategies, estate planning or updating wills.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026

His nuanced supporting work allowed some of the greatest actresses of their moment attain their first fireworks.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 13, 2026

A day before the show, the feelings were more nuanced.

From BBC ● Jul. 6, 2026

This is an intriguing statistic: the same people who routinely steal more than 10 percent of his bagels almost never stoop to stealing his money box—a tribute to the nuanced social calculus of theft.

From "Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything" by Steven D. Levitt

Instead, “Concentrate” shines when Taylor focuses on her archive and relates it to her own embodied experiences, nuancing the participants’ identities and humanities.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2022

If you want to stay with this guy, you’re probably going to need to work on broadening and nuancing your framing.

From Slate ● Dec. 4, 2019

He conceded that he had done “a poor job of nuancing what I was trying to get at.”

From New York Times ● Apr. 16, 2017

There will remain debates about the details of implementation and the nuancing and emphasis and the language and so on.

From Forbes ● Aug. 20, 2014

Another instance of the sacrifice of highly useful forms to this impatience of nuancing is the group whence, whither, hence, hither, thence, thither.

From Language An Introduction to the Study of Speech by Sapir, Edward

Related Words

• distinction
• gradation
• hint
• implication
• nicety
• refinement
• subtlety