This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
pointillism
[ pwan-tl-iz-uhm, -tee-iz-, poin-tl-iz- ]
/ ˈpwæn tlˌɪz əm, -tiˌɪz-, ˈpɔɪn tlˌɪz- /
Save This Word!
This shows grade level based on the word's complexity.
noun (sometimes initial capital letter)
a theory and technique developed by the neo-impressionists, based on the principle that juxtaposed dots of pure color, as blue and yellow, are optically mixed into the resulting hue, as green, by the viewer.
QUIZ
CUDDLE UP! A COZY QUIZ ON FALL WORDS HAS ARRIVED
If autumn is your ideal season, spice up your repertoire of "fall" vocabulary with this quiz on some warm and vivid descriptive words for the season.
Question 1 of 10
Which of the following words means “to make a crackling sound; crackle”?
Meet Grammar CoachImprove Your Writing
Origin of pointillism
OTHER WORDS FROM pointillism
poin·til·list, noun, adjectiveWords nearby pointillism
point estimation, point group, point guard, pointillage, pointillé, pointillism, pointillistic, pointing, pointing device, point in time, point lace
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
How to use pointillism in a sentence
From him we may trace the modern impressionist movement, and from him modern pointillism.
Watteau|C. Lewis Hind
British Dictionary definitions for pointillism
pointillism
/ (ˈpwæntɪˌlɪzəm, -tiːˌɪzəm, ˈpɔɪn-) /
noun
the technique of painting elaborated from impressionism, in which dots of unmixed colour are juxtaposed on a white ground so that from a distance they fuse in the viewer's eye into appropriate intermediate tonesAlso called: divisionism
Derived forms of pointillism
pointillist, noun, adjectiveWord Origin for pointillism
C19: from French, from pointiller to mark with tiny dots, from pointille little point, from Italian puntiglio, from punto 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