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ENGLISH · A WORD WITH POSSIBILITIES

contrast.

A difference in lightness, brightness or hue between two colours that makes them more or less distinguishable.

8 characters2 syllables approx.English language

Meaning & usage

noun
  1. A difference in lightness, brightness or hue between two colours that makes them more or less distinguishable. The degree of this difference.

    uncountable
    The red and the orange don't have much contrast between them — I can hardly tell them apart.
  2. A difference in lightness, brightness or hue between two colours that makes them more or less distinguishable. A control on a television, etc, that adjusts the amount of contrast in the images being displayed.

    countable
  3. A difference between two objects, people or concepts.

    countable
    Israel is a country of many contrasts.
  4. Something that is opposite of or strikingly different from something else.

    countable
  5. Antithesis.

    countable · rhetoric · uncountable
  6. Contrast medium

    uncountable
Where this word comes from

From French contraster, from Latin contrāstāre (“to resist", "to withstand”), from contrā (“against”) + stō, stāre (“to stand”).

verb/kənˈtɹɑːst/Received-Pronunciation/kənˈtɹast/Northern-England, Scotland/kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/US/ˈkɑnt(ʃ)ɹæst/US
  1. To set in opposition in order to show the difference or differences between; to counterpoint.

    transitive
  2. To form a contrast.

    intransitive · often
    Foreground and background strongly contrast.
    The color of her dress contrasts very nicely with the black scarf around her neck.
Where this word comes from

From French contraster, from Latin contrāstāre (“to resist", "to withstand”), from contrā (“against”) + stō, stāre (“to stand”).

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Definitions, grammatical labels, IPA, etymology and examples: Wiktionary contributors, extracted by Kaikki / Wiktextract. Adapted under CC BY-SA 4.0. Selected fields and authored examples are shown; third-party quotations and audio are omitted. See contributor history.

Last enriched 2026-09-10. Definitions are in English. Romanizations are shown when supplied by the source; syllable estimates are omitted for unsupported scripts.