silhouette
part of speech
noun (a silhouette, silhouettes); verb (silhouette, silhouettes, silhouetted, silhouetting)
meaning for a pupil
1) A silhouette is the dark shape or outline of someone or something seen against a brighter background, like a person standing in front of a sunset. tree →
2) A silhouette is a picture of a person or thing cut out of black paper or painted all black, showing only the outline. tree →
3) (verb) To be silhouetted means to appear as a dark shape against a light background. tree →
4) In fashion, a silhouette is the overall shape of a piece of clothing. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science lessons about light and shadows, silhouettes show that light cannot pass through solid objects. In art, pupils make silhouette pictures against bright sunset backgrounds. In stories, «a silhouette in the doorway» adds mystery, since we cannot see the face. Phrases: «in silhouette», «silhouetted against».
examples
- The castle was silhouetted against the orange sky. tree →
- We painted sunset backgrounds and added black silhouettes of trees. tree →
- A tall silhouette appeared in the doorway. tree →
- Can you guess the animal from its silhouette? tree →
- The old portrait was a silhouette cut from black paper. tree →
- The birds made dark silhouettes on the telephone wire. tree →
note
Countable noun. Tricky spelling: s-i-l-h-o-u-e-t-t-e (silent h, «ou», double t, final e). Pronounced «sil-oo-ET». A silhouette is the dark object itself; a shadow is the dark shape it casts on a surface.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «silhouette» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.