repoussoir
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of repoussoir
1870–75; < French, equivalent to repouss ( er ) to push back ( see repoussé) + -oir -ory 2
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.
Davis suspends the aerial diver in space, a repoussoir figure designed to visually lead us into the scene.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 16, 2025
A so-called repoussoir figure, he turns to look over his shoulder directly at us.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 21, 2015
There was no rain; there was only, all the afternoon, a mild, moist wind and a sky magnificently black; which made a repoussoir for the paler cliffs of the fountain.
From A Little Tour of France by Joseph Pennell
Does the word repoussoir mean any thing to her?
From Our Stage and Its Critics By "E.F.S." of "The Westminster Gazette" by Edward Fordham Spence
There was no rain; there was only, all the after- noon, a mild, moist wind, and a sky magnificently black, which made a repoussoir for the paler cliffs of the fountain.
From A Little Tour in France by Henry James
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.
