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nuance

[noo-ahns, nyoo-, noo-ahns, nyoo-; French ny-ahns]
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SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nuance ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural nu·anc·es [noo-ahn-siz, nyoo-, noo-ahn-siz, nyoo-; French ny-ahns] /ˈnu ɑn sɪz, ˈnyu-, nuˈɑn sɪz, nyu-; French nüˈɑ̃s/.

a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
a very slight difference or variation in color or tone.

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
Related formsnu·anced, adjectiveun·nu·anced, adjective

Synonyms for nuance

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR nuance ON THESAURUS.COM
1. subtlety, nicety, hint, refinement.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for nuances

hint, subtlety, gradation, nicety, refinement, distinction, implication, degree, shade, trace, dash, suspicion, suggestion, touch, shadow, tinge

Examples from the Web for nuances

Contemporary Examples of nuances

Historical Examples of nuances

  • He was a stickler for the nuances of behaviour, especially in women.

    Painted Veils

    James Huneker

  • It is short, pregnant—what is to follow is incorporated in its nuances.

    Iconoclasts

    James Huneker

  • It has been well said that words are inadequate to describe the nuances of taste.

  • "The correspondences of nuances," he sings to his neighbour, who happens to be Whistler.

    Unicorns

    James Huneker

  • In spite of the shock, the newness, Dr. Stern was sensitive to nuances.

    West Of The Sun

    Edgar Pangborn

British Dictionary definitions for nuances

nuance

noun

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

verb (tr; passive)

to give subtle differences tocarefully nuanced words

Word Origin for nuance

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 Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for nuances

nuance

v.

1886, from nuance (n.). Related: Nuanced.

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."

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
nuances in Culture

nuance

[(nooh-ahns)]

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

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.