silhouette
Americannoun
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silhouettes
plural
-
a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an object, as a cutout or configurational drawing, uniformly filled in with black, especially a black-paper, miniature cutout of the outlines of a person's face in profile.
-
the outline or general shape of something.
the slim silhouette of a skyscraper.
-
a dark image outlined against a lighter background.
verb (used with object)
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silhouettes,
present (3rd person singular)
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silhouetted,
past participle, past
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silhouetting
present participle
-
to show in or as if in a silhouette.
-
Printing. to remove the background details from (a halftone cut) so as to produce an outline effect.
noun
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the outline of a solid figure as cast by its shadow
-
an outline drawing filled in with black, often a profile portrait cut out of black paper and mounted on a light ground
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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silhouettesimple
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silhouettessimple
-
have silhouettedperfect
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has silhouettedperfect
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am silhouettingprogressive
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are silhouettingprogressive
-
is silhouettingprogressive
-
have been silhouettingperfect progressive
-
has been silhouettingperfect progressive
Past
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silhouettedsimple
-
had silhouettedperfect
-
was silhouettingprogressive
-
were silhouettingprogressive
-
had been silhouettingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of silhouette
First recorded in 1790–1800; from French à la silhouette, after Etienne de Silhouette (1709–67), French finance minister; the surname Silhouette is ultimately from Basque Zilhoeta, from zilo, zilho, zulo “hole” + -eta, toponymic suffix
Explanation
A silhouette is dark shadow, like a silhouette of a person standing under a street lamp, or a drawing that shows only the shape of an object. A silhouette, pronounced "sil-ooh-ET," can be mysterious. After all, you can only see the shape of the person or object. So, it's fitting that the word's origin is a little mysterious, too. It was coined for Etienne de Silhouette, a French finance minister. One theory is that Silhouette decorated his chateau with the kind of dark outline drawings that now bear his name.
Vocabulary lists containing silhouette
Long Way Down
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You Name It: Eponyms
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"The Great Gatsby," Chapter 1 Vocabulary
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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:
Ballet flats are back in vogue, and that’s prompted some unlikely companies to hop on the bandwagon with their own riffs on the classic shoe silhouette.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
He saw Bori’s flickering silhouette gripping the bars.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
La Liga 2 side Real Valladolid's home shirt uses the club's traditional stripes, with a silhouette showing the Province of Valladolid stitched into the kit.
From BBC ● Aug. 9, 2026
It’s backed by a mission-style silhouette tiled with an urn overflowing with foliage.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 21, 2026
The headlights faded and Dad’s silhouette sloped its way back toward us.
From "The Season of Styx Malone" by Kekla Magoon
“Many of them have been stretched into new silhouettes of the Samba, for example, into both ballerinas, into mules, into Mary Janes.”
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
WSJ | Buy Side: These modern swim trunks feature bold patterns, slim silhouettes and quick-drying fabric meant to take you from the beach to the bar.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 29, 2026
Likewise, Paris Fashion Week isn’t known to feature designers whose collections can be worn off the rack, instead showcasing works of great sartorial ambition, with severe silhouettes and playful flourishes alike.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
The nostalgic tone of the collection was captured by some attendees who praised the juxtaposition of pieces, resulting in fluid, less cinched silhouettes reminiscent of 1940s Hollywood.
From Barron's ● May 14, 2026
Even from their distance she could see two silhouettes inside it.
From "When the Sea Turned to Silver" by Grace Lin
The DJ was silhouetted by a large window display of a gigantic, human-sized plastic re-creation of Raising Cane’s chicken tenders and crinkle-cut fries being dipped into a tub of Cane’s Sauce.
From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026
Its glacial flatness doesn’t lend itself to crusades, or to impressive scenes like a man on horseback silhouetted against the sunset.
From Salon ● Aug. 9, 2026
Behind them the water is a luminescent strip of blue, abutting a silhouetted skyline in which many of the buildings belch smoke; a few of the industrial structures spew fire.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 24, 2026
Several unnerving things are happening at once, including the presence of a silhouetted stalker, old bones that give the dog nightmares and Todd’s unpredictable mood swings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 1, 2025
She walked into a dark room, peeked out from behind a shade, and saw the sheik high up in the cherry tree silhouetted against the moon.
From "Cheaper by the Dozen" by Frank B. Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey
Occasionally he would lean forward, silhouetting himself entirely but for some unruly wisps of gray hair, which glowed like a nimbus.
From New York Times ● Dec. 15, 2020
We pulled into Sacramento and our first glorious California sunset, a sheet of horizontal oranges and reds silhouetting black water towers and high-tension wires.
From New York Times ● Sep. 6, 2016
The photo captured Watkins’s image by silhouetting his head against an illuminated tree.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2015
You see it's enough to bring tears to the eyesby silhouetting trees,winter boughs spidery on mist-like white skiestwitched in a breeze.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 18, 2013
Tally gazed down at the familiar skyline, the slender trails of fireworks silhouetting the party towers and mansions.
From "Uglies" by Scott Westerfeld
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.
