pointillism
[pwan-tl-iz-uh m, -tee-iz-, poin-tl-iz-]
- 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.
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Origin of pointillism
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
pointillism
- 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
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Word Origin
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
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Word Origin and History for pointillism
n.
1901, from French pointillisme, from pointiller "to cover with pointilles," small dots, plural diminutive of point (see point (n.)). Pointillist is attested from 1891, from French pointilliste.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper