sfumato

[ sfoo-mah-toh ]

/ sfuˈmɑ toʊ /

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noun Fine Arts.

the subtle and minute gradation of tone and color used to blur or veil the contours of a form in painting.

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Origin of sfumato

1840–50; <Italian, past participle of sfumare to gradate tone or color, equivalent to s-<Latin ex-ex-¹ + fumare to smoke <Latin fumāre;see fume

Words nearby sfumato

sfm, SFO, Sforza, sforzando, SFr., sfumato, SFW, SFX, sfz, sg, SGA

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022

How to use sfumato in a sentence

It is like a picture, or a succession of pictures, painted in what the Italians call the sfumato, or "smoky" manner.
The Life and Genius of Nathaniel Hawthorne|Frank Preston Stearns
All the secrets of richness, softness, and morbidenza, all the mysteries of pastoso and sfumato were his.
Selections from the Poems and Plays of Robert Browning|Robert Browning
The gods were everything and nothing; they got lost in a sfumato.
The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism|Franz Cumont

British Dictionary definitions for sfumato

sfumato

/ (sfuːˈmɑːtəʊ) /

noun

(in painting) a gradual transition between areas of different colour, avoiding sharp outlines

Word Origin for sfumato

from Italian, from sfumato shaded off, from sfumare to shade off, from Latin ex- 1 + fūmāre to smoke

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