nuance
Americannoun
plural
nuances-
a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
- Synonyms:
- refinement, nicety, subtlety, shading, shade
-
a very slight difference or variation in color or tone.
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
Other Word Forms
- nuanced adjective
Etymology
Origin of nuance
First recorded in 1775–85; from French: “shade, hue,” equivalent to nu(er) “to shade” (literally, “to cloud”), from unattested Vulgar Latin nūbāre, derivative of unattested nūba, for Latin nūbēs “cloud”) + -ance noun suffix; -ance
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
But when screenwriter Will Tracy sat down to pen his Oscar-nominated script for "Bugonia," he wanted to create a protagonist with a little more nuance.
From Barron's
But it requires a lot of nuance to differentiate between a distillation attack and a company using an AI model for legitimate purposes, he added.
From MarketWatch
These comparisons aren’t exactly nuanced but they are stark and, for most of the film, Franco just asks us to watch them move together and apart, in a strange, avoidant pas de deux.
From Los Angeles Times
“I didn’t want it to be one note. That was the most important thing. There always has to be nuance.”
From Los Angeles Times
Councillor Adrian Garden said views were "mixed and often nuanced" and called for greater transparency around community benefits.
From BBC
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
