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Glite Dictionary
🌄 A dark outline 🖼️ A shape mask 🌄 To outline darkly
to silhouette

to silhouette

1 6.1
To show someone or something as a dark shape against a light background
  • verb
  • /ˌsɪl.əˈwɛt/
translation icon : recortar a contraluz
  • The clang of machinery was almost deafening, and here and there flames shot out to silhouette a human figure as a boiler door was opened to feed the mechanical beast.

But you did silhouette yourself a little bit on that hill.

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Examples

  • We used a spotlight to silhouette the actors as they performed behind the translucent screen.

  • Fog cannot be lit from the front, so backlight was used to silhouette the dancers against a changing density of fog.

    Academic text (1998)

  • There was no way she could get up the stairs without letting the light silhouette her body through the flimsy fabric of her nightgown.

    Fiction book (1992)

  • The setting sun helped to silhouette the mountains against the colorful sky.

  • The artist decided to silhouette the trees so that they would stand out against the bright sunset.

How Clear

to cut out
77 3.2
to silhouette
1 6.1
to shadow
14 2.3
to suggest
∞ 2.1

Surface Forms

silhouette infinitive
silhouetted past
silhouetted past participle
silhouetting present participle
silhouettes third person singular

Etymology

Silhouette as a verb comes from the same French name Étienne de Silhouette and the old cut-out pictures that showed only an outline. To 'silhouette' someone is to show them as a dark 'outline' or shape against a brighter background.