nuance
[noo-ahns, nyoo-, noo-ahns, nyoo-; French ny-ahns]
- a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
- a very slight difference or variation in color or tone.
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Origin of nuance
1775–85; < French: shade, hue, equivalent to nu(er) to shade (literally, to cloud < Vulgar Latin *nūbāre, derivative of *nūba, for Latin nūbēs cloud) + -ance -ance
Synonyms
See more synonyms for nuance on Thesaurus.com1. subtlety, nicety, hint, refinement.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for nuanced
Contemporary Examples
Sophisticated, nuanced, melodious pop music, that sweeps you away.
The issue of authenticity in American hip-hop is rich and nuanced.
Hip-hop and faith have a long and sometimes conflicted history; but it was often presented in nuanced or subdued ways.
The price reflects its rarity as well, but also the finicky, difficult, and nuanced process of making Champagne.
The New York kingmaker who died Monday believed voters could actually handle a nuanced argument.
nuance
- a subtle difference in colour, meaning, tone, etc; a shade or graduation
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- to give subtle differences tocarefully nuanced words
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Word Origin
C18: from French, from nuer to show light and shade, ultimately from Latin nūbēs a cloud
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for nuanced
adj.
1896, past participle adjective from verb nuance (q.v.).
The new co-operative history of English literature which the University of Cambridge is now publishing prints "genre" without italics. And it even permits one contributor--and a contributor who is discussing Shakespeare!--to say that something is delicately "nuanced." Is there now an English verb "to nuance"? It is terrible to think of the bad language the scholars of the venerable English university might have used if "nuanced" had been first discovered in the text of an American author. [Scribner's Magazine," January 1911]
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nuance
v.
1886, from nuance (n.). Related: Nuanced.
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nuance
n.
1781, from French nuance "slight difference, shade of color" (17c.), from nuer "to shade," from nue "cloud," from Gallo-Romance *nuba, from Latin nubes "a cloud, mist, vapor," from PIE *sneudh- "fog" (cf. Avestan snaoda "clouds," Latin obnubere "to veil," Welsh nudd "fog," Greek nython, in Hesychius "dark, dusky"). According to Klein, a reference to "the different colors of the clouds."
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
nuance
[(nooh-ahns)]
A fine shade of meaning: “I liked the film, but I know I missed some of its nuances.”
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.