Definitions for silhouetteˌsɪl uˈɛt

This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word silhouette

Princeton's WordNet

  1. silhouette(noun)

    an outline of a solid object (as cast by its shadow)

  2. silhouette(verb)

    a drawing of the outline of an object; filled in with some uniform color

  3. silhouette(verb)

    project on a background, such as a screen, like a silhouette

  4. silhouette(verb)

    represent by a silhouette


  1. silhouette(Noun)

    An illustrated outline filled in with a solid color(s), usually only black, and intended to represent the shape of an object without revealing any other visual details; a similar appearance produced when the object being viewed is situated in relative darkness with brighter lighting behind it; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be.

    I could see a silhouette of a figure looking out from the window, but I couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman.

  2. silhouette(Verb)

    To represent by a silhouette; to project upon a background, so as to be like a silhouette.

  3. Origin: From silhouette.

Webster Dictionary

  1. Silhouette(noun)

    a representation of the outlines of an object filled in with a black color; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be

  2. Silhouette(verb)


  3. Origin: [F.; -- so called from Etienne de Silhoutte, a French minister of finance in 1759, whise diversion it was to make such portraits on the walls of his apartments.]


  1. Silhouette

    A silhouette is the image of a person, an object or scene represented as a solid shape of a single colour, usually black, its edges matching the outline of the subject. The interior of a silhouette is featureless, and the whole is typically presented on a light background, usually white, or none at all. The silhouette differs from an outline which depicts the edge of an object in a linear form, while a silhouette appears as a solid shape. Silhouette images may be created in any visual artistic media, but the term normally describes pieces of cut paper, which were then stuck to a backing in a contrasting colour, and often framed. Cutting portraits, generally in profile, from black card became popular in the mid-18th century, though the term “silhouette” was seldom used until the early decades of the 19th century, and the tradition has continued under this name into the 21st century. They represented a cheap but effective alternative to the portrait miniature, and skilled specialist artists could cut a high-quality bust portrait, by far the most common style, in a matter of minutes, working purely by eye. Other artists, especially from about 1790, drew an outline on paper, then painted it in, which could be equally quick. The leading 18th-century English "profilist" in painting, John Miers, advertised "three minute sittings", and the cost might be as low as half a crown around 1800. Miers' superior products could be in grisaille, with delicate highlights added in gold or yellow, and examples might be painted on various backings, including gesso, glass or ivory. The size was normally small, with many designed to fit into a locket, but otherwise a bust some 3 to 5 inches high was typical, with half- or full-length portraits proportionately larger.

The Nuttall Encyclopedia

  1. Silhouette

    name given to the profile of a portrait filled in with black; a design familiar to the ancients, and in vogue in France during the reign of Louis XV.


  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of silhouette in Chaldean Numerology is: 7

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of silhouette in Pythagorean Numerology is: 8

Sample Sentences & Example Usage

  1. Lizzy Bowring:

    It's a slimmer silhouette -- much more concise and much more grown-up, it isn't a granola look, as one might say.

  2. Randy Serraglio:

    It takes years to plan and implement a project like this, but when you look up on the ridge top in the dawn light and see the silhouette of a bighorn against the morning sky, it makes it all worthwhile.

  3. Seb Lyall:

    Every table that you sit at is designed so that the sight is obstructed between other dining parties, the restaurant is partitioned or there’s bamboo or you only see someone’s back or a silhouette or their shadows from candles.

  4. Victoria Elena Vasquez:

    The term is called counter elimination, the way you can picture it is if you were on a boat and you looked down and you saw a silhouette of something. You didn’t know what it was but you saw a shadow in the water. The idea here is that these sharks are trying to glow just enough to eliminate that shadow.

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Translations for silhouette

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"silhouette." STANDS4 LLC, 2016. Web. 27 Oct. 2016. <>.

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