Entry: chiaroscuro (adj.)
In context: "When required to stand upright and still, like when videotaping an E.T.A.'s service motion or manning the light meters on the set of a high-contrast chiaroscuro art film..."
Definition: The style of pictorial art in which only the light and shade, and not the various colours, are represented; black-and-white, or dark brown and white. ? Obs.
Other: What a neat-looking word!
The etymology is fun: Etymology: Italian; < chiaro ( < Latin clārus) clear, bright + oscuro ( < Latin obscūrus) dark; thence French clair-obscur.
SNOOT score: 2
Page: 315
Source: Oxford English Dictionary
Definitive Jest is a vocabulary-building and SNOOT-approved word-of-the-day blog centered around David Foster Wallace's Infinite Jest.
No comments:
Post a Comment