pointe

[ French pwant ]

noun,plural pointes [French pwant]. /French pwɛ̃t/. Ballet.
  1. the tip of the toe.

  2. a position on the extreme tips of the toes.

Idioms about pointe

  1. on / en pointe, supporting one’s body weight on the extreme tips of the toes:dancing on pointe.: Also on / en pointes .

Origin of pointe

1
1820–30; <French: pointe (du pied) “tiptoe,” literally, “extremity of the foot”

Words Nearby pointe

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pointe in a sentence

  • I had quit ballet when we got to pointe shoes because it was too hard, and I was a decent swimmer but not a great one, and so on.

    My nemesis, the piano | Doree Shafrir | August 27, 2021 | Vox
  • One or two, it seemed to me, were actually still tiptoeing “en pointe.”

    Really Living It | Raphael Magarik | November 16, 2012 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • After a long paddle of five or six hours we arrived at pointe des Monts, where rough weather obliged us to put ashore.

    Hudson Bay | R.M. Ballantyne
  • He woke from it with a vigor and freshness that surprised him, and found the train pulling into the station at pointe Levis.

    The Quality of Mercy | W. D. Howells
  • Como itself is the head centre for this part of the lake region, but we used it only as a pointe de dpart.

  • These harsh words—harsh barking of the shepherd dog—spread an unseen consternation in Grande pointe.

    Bonaventure | George Washington Cable
  • He glanced around condescendingly upon the people of Grande pointe.

    Bonaventure | George Washington Cable

British Dictionary definitions for pointe

pointe

/ (pɔɪnt) /


noun
  1. ballet the tip of the toe (esp in the phrase on pointes)

Origin of pointe

1
from French: point

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