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
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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
-
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:
“I think there is more runway for the silhouette in the next year or two,” Goldstein said in emailed comments.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
He saw Bori’s flickering silhouette gripping the bars.
From Slate ● Aug. 11, 2026
Then, if I dive deeper into Japanese culture, I think about the most iconic silhouette, which for me is a kimono.
From BBC ● Jun. 29, 2026
The drag queen’s stickers include the same mountain silhouette used by Patagonia.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 29, 2026
The sound of ice against glass and crystal made a scant music as Ben tried to find the silhouette of his father.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
He took a photo of them on the slope, small silhouettes against the snow.
From BBC ● Sep. 11, 2026
The label said the collection sought to upend "traditional notions of chic" and rework historical silhouettes.
From Barron's ● Sep. 10, 2026
Matières Fécales had just had their first couture show, where they had all of these insane silhouettes, and we were like, “Duh.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 2, 2026
“For her, we have the hottest shoes and silhouettes in the market,” Adidas CEO Bjorn Gulden said on the company’s earnings call last month.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 15, 2026
On the front wall were silhouettes of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, a map of the world, and a map of North Carolina.
From "Stella by Starlight" by Sharon M. Draper
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
So it’ll be, like, 5 or 6 o’clock in the morning, and it’s dark, but the palm trees are silhouetted in the sky.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2026
He stood there silhouetted against the red flare, looking into the flames, shouting.
From "Invisible Man" by Ralph Ellison
“The glare and the sunlight was kind of silhouetting him, so I didn’t see his face,” the witness, Capt. Neda K. Othman of the U.S.
From New York Times ● Oct. 28, 2022
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
The crew boat returned to Tigre as the sun set, casting a golden glow over the lapping water, silhouetting the Parque de la Costa amusement park.
From New York Times ● Dec. 1, 2010
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.
