Pronunciation guide

How to pronounce silhouette

sil-oo-ET - three syllables, stress at the end; the 'h' is silent and 'ou' is 'oo'

US/ˌsɪ.lʊˈwɛt/

sɪlʊwɛt

UK/ˌsɪ.lʊˈwɛt/

sɪlʊwɛt

New to IPA symbols? Read the IPA guide.

Common mistake

The 'h' is silent - 'sil-oo-ET', not 'sil-HOW-et'.

What “silhouette” means

An illustrated outline filled in with a solid color(s), usually only black, and intended to represent the shape of an object without revealing any other visual details; a similar appearance produced when the object being viewed is situated in relative darkness with brighter lighting behind it; a profile portrait in black, such as a shadow appears to be.

The outline of a garment as it appears on the wearer.

In a sentence

  • The sunset formed a striking silhouette of the hilltop.
  • Her silhouette filled the doorway, dark and anonymous.

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Definitions and examples are derived from Wiktionary, used under CC BY-SA 4.0, then edited by QuickPronounce. Pronunciation data draws on CMUdict.