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pointe

American  
[pwant] / pwɛ̃t /

noun

Ballet.
  • pointes
    plural
  1. the tip of the toe.

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


idioms

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

    dancing on pointe.

pointe British  
/ pɔɪnt /

noun

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

"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

Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms


Etymology

Origin of pointe

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


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:

Both she and a guy danced en pointe; Adéla never went long without whipping her long pink hair, which was one style choice widely replicated throughout the room.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 9, 2026

Edeline Lee put on a striking show in London - complete with models taking to the runway en pointe in a transformed school sports hall.

From BBC ● Sep. 21, 2026

The women’s legs and pointe work flash during solo moments and intermix with the moves of their male counterparts during intricate duets.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2025

The shimmering and pellucid choreographic poem presents its central woman as if arriving on a breeze by way of skimming steps on pointe and ultimately exiting as breezily as she arrived.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 13, 2025

I felt little pitter-patters in my heart the day I tried on my first pointe shoes.

From "Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina" by Michaela DePrince

Boone scored eight pointes early in the second half as the Cowboys put together a 10-3 run to build a 14-point lead, 50-36 with 10:32 remaining.

From Seattle Times ● Nov. 17, 2021

Johnson may be old, slow and worn down, but he is never sur les pointes.

From New York Times ● Aug. 27, 2011

Their ten-month-old daughter Maria, Youskevitch says, "stays on her pointes very good."

From Time Magazine Archive

She swirled in flamencos, glided through a waltz, and in the purple breeches of a matador climaxed a gymnastic bullfight on pointes as delicately as a Russian ballerina.

From Time Magazine Archive

I pray also at your leasure answere the other pointes of my last letter concerning Vieta, Kepler and your selfe.

From Thomas Hariot, the Mathematician, the Philosopher and the Scholar by Henry Stevens

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