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Before the age of the photograph, the silhouette, either cut from paper or painted, was the most affordable portrait that could be made. The art enjoyed a golden age in the second half of the 18th and first half of the 19th centuries, when many people collected them. Although silhouettes were well-loved, the man for whom they were named was not: Étienne de Silhouette was France's finance minister under Louis XV and was notorious for both his frugality and his hobby of making cut-paper shadow portraits. The phrase à la Silhouette came to mean "on the cheap," and portraits like the ones he produced were (satirically) bestowed with his name as well.
Synonyms
Examples of silhouette in a Sentence
Katie Ann Lehman, Variety, 25 Apr. 2024
Along with being functional and easy to style, the two balance each other’s structured and free-flowing silhouettes.
—Kate Watson, Peoplemag, 24 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for silhouette 
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'silhouette.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near silhouette
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“Silhouette.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/silhouette. Accessed 3 May. 2024.
Copy CitationKids Definition
silhouette
1 of 2 noun
silhouette
2 of 2 verb
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