nude
Americanadjective
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naked or unclothed, as a person or the body.
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without the usual coverings, furnishings, etc.; bare.
a nude stretch of land laid waste by brush fires.
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(of a photograph, painting, statue, etc.) being or prominently displaying a representation of the nude human figure.
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Law. made without a consideration or other legal essential.
a nude contract.
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having the color nude.
noun
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a sculpture, painting, etc., of a nude human figure.
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an unclothed human figure.
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the condition of being unclothed.
to sleep in the nude.
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(no longer in common use; now considered offensive) a light grayish-yellow brown to brownish-pink color.
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a color that falls within the spectrum of human skin colors.
adjective
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completely unclothed; undressed
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having no covering; bare; exposed
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law
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lacking some essential legal requirement, esp supporting evidence
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(of a contract, agreement, etc) made without consideration and void unless under seal
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noun
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the state of being naked (esp in the phrase in the nude )
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a naked figure, esp in painting, sculpture, etc
Sensitive Note
See flesh color.
Pronunciation
See new .
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of nude
1525–35; < Latin nūdus; see naked
Explanation
Someone who's nude isn't wearing any clothes. In modern society, we're generally nude in the shower but fully dressed when we go to work. Whether you say you're "in your birthday suit," "au naturel," or "unclothed" — when you're nude, you're naked. You might find the word in the phrase "in the nude," which also simply means nude, or describing a work of art as "a nude," or a painting or sculpture of a nude person. In the 1500s, nude was a legal term meaning "unsupported," from the Latin nudus, "bare." The "naked" definition didn't became popular until the nineteenth century.
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.
See Examples For:
On Wednesday, one of Freud’s four nude portraits of her sold at Sotheby’s London for $39 million, the third-highest auction price for the artist.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Sue Tilley was 35 years old and working in a London employment office when she disrobed and let British artist Lucian Freud paint her in the nude.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 24, 2026
Report author, Hera Hussain, warns an "image does not have to be nude for it to be harmful"
From BBC ● Jun. 21, 2026
“I remember once in Paris, he just stepped out for cigarettes, and the next thing I knew, he was arrested by the police for floating nude down the Seine.”
From Salon ● Feb. 17, 2026
To him, only the heroic male nude possessed the physical monumentality necessary to express the awesome power of figures such as this mythical prophetess.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
The handmade stoneware tiles of Florencia Rothschild at Wishbone honor femininity and self-care in mural-like assemblages of nudes engaging in yoga, Pilates and rest, foregrounding the human form without sexualizing it.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 3, 2025
Caillebotte has jettisoned the usual classical trappings of Greek and Roman heroes, which typically cloak male nudes in sober history and myth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 4, 2025
The Text with Jesus app is inextricably linked to the deepfake nudes generated by supercharged tools from Microsoft and Google — in that they share one foolish premise at core.
From Salon ● Aug. 29, 2023
Unlike the fleshy, pulchritudinous and radiant nudes of Rubens and Renoir, Mr. Pearlstein’s models are painted as ordinary human beings.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 17, 2022
It was Michelangelo’s habit to base his female figures on male nudes drawn from life.
From "History of Art, Volume 1" by H.W. Janson
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.
