From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishldoce_302_asilhouettesil‧hou‧ette /ˌsɪluˈet/ noun1SHAPE[countable, uncountable] a darkimage, shadow, or shape that you see against a light backgroundsilhouette ofa dark silhouette of domes and minaretssilhouette againstSoon the bombers would return, black silhouettes against a pale sky.in silhouetteThe old windmill stood out in silhouette.2
Image of silhouette
[countable, uncountable] a drawing of something or someone, often from the side, showing a black shape against a light backgroundsilhouette pictures of snowmen and reindeerin silhouettea picture of Mozart in silhouette3[countable] the particular shape certainclothes give youFitted clothes often give the neatest silhouettes. —silhouetted adjectivetall chimney stacks silhouetted against the orange flamesExamples from the Corpussilhouette• She looked up to the skyline, where Scathach's tall form was a silhouette.• Imprints of treespressed themselves against the windshield, black silhouettes that hung like bleakskeletons.• The piledrivers stood idle in the darkness, graysilhouettes like horsessleepingupright in a field.• We could see her silhouette through the curtains.• I could see from his silhouette in the starlight that he was hanging his head.• Throwing up her hand, Tabitha glimpsed a figure in silhouetterising up from the floor at their very feet.• Lauren's fall collection includes woolsuits with a new, narrowersilhouette.• All this for a fleeting ten second flash of silhouette on the Big Screen.• One can easily imagine how such warm, living illumination would bring forth spontaneoussilhouettes, as it were from another world.• I saw the silhouette of someone waiting under the streetlight.• It threw a redglow round their silhouettes as they walked away.• The trees were silhouettes in the morning fog.in silhouette• The 321/2 stampdepicted a woman in silhouette.Originsilhouette(1700-1800)French from Étienne de Silhouette (1709-67), French politician famous for not liking to spend money, and therefore appropriately giving his name to a cheap simple picture