chiaroscuro

• POS: Noun
• HYPHEN: chi=a=ro=scu=ro

CIDE DICTIONARY

chiaroscuro, n. [It., clear dark.].

 The arrangement of light and dark parts in a work of art, such as a drawing or painting, whether in monochrome or in color.  [1913 Webster]

OXFORD DICTIONARY

chiaroscuro, n.
1 the treatment of light and shade in drawing and painting.
2 the use of contrast in literature etc.
3 (attrib.) half-revealed.

Etymology

It. f. chiaro CLEAR + oscuro dark, OBSCURE

ROGET THESAURUS

chiaroscuro

Light

N light, ray, beam, stream, gleam, streak, pencil, sunbeam, moonbeam, aurora, day, sunshine, light of day, light of heaven, moonlight, starlight, sunlight, daylight, broad daylight, noontide light, noontide, noonday, noonday sun, glow, glimmering, glint, play of light, flood of light, phosphorescence, lambent flame, flush, halo, glory, nimbus, aureola, spark, scintilla, facula, sparkling, emication, scintillation, flash, blaze, coruscation, fulguration, flame, lightning, levin, ignis fatuus, luster, sheen, shimmer, reflexion, reflection, gloss, tinsel, spangle, brightness, brilliancy, splendor, effulgence, refulgence, fulgor, fulgidity, dazzlement, resplendence, transplendency, luminousness, luminosity, lucidity, renitency, nitency, radiance, radiation, irradiation, illumination, actinic rays, actinism, Roentgen-ray, Xray, photography, heliography, photometer, optics, photology, photometry, dioptrics, catoptrics, chiaroscuro, clairobscur, clear obscure, breadth, light and shade, black and white, tonality, reflection, refraction, dispersion, refractivity, shining, luminous, luminiferous, lucid, lucent, luculent, lucific, luciferous, light, lightsome, bright, vivid, splendent, nitid, lustrous, shiny, beamy, scintillant, radiant, lambent, sheen, sheeny, glossy, burnished, glassy, sunny, orient, meridian, noonday, tide, cloudless, clear, unclouded, unobscured, gairish, garish, resplendent, transplendent, refulgent, effulgent, fulgid, fulgent, relucent, splendid, blazing, in a blaze, ablaze, rutilant, meteoric, phosphorescent, aglow, bright as silver, light as day, bright as day, light as noonday, bright as noonday, bright as the sun at noonday, actinic, photogenic, graphic, heliographic, heliophagous, a day for gods to stoop and men to soar, dark with excessive bright.

Darkness

N darkness, absence of light, blackness, obscurity, gloom, murk, dusk, Cimmerian darkness, Stygian darkness, Egyptian darkness, night, midnight, dead of night, witching hour of night, witching time of night, blind man's holiday, darkness visible, darkness that can be felt, palpable obscure, Erebus, the jaws of darkness, sablevested night, shade, shadow, umbra, penumbra, sciagraphy, obscuration, occultation, adumbration, obumbration, obtenebration, offuscation, caligation, extinction, eclipse, total eclipse, gathering of the clouds, shading, distribution of shade, chiaroscuro, noctivagation, black body, hohlraum, black hole, dark star, dark matter, cold dark matter, dark, darksome, darkling, obscure, tenebrious, sombrous, pitch dark, pitchy, pitch black, caliginous, black, sunless, lightless &c (sun) (light), somber, dusky, unilluminated &c (illuminate), nocturnal, dingy, lurid, gloomy, murky, murksome, shady, umbrageous, overcast, cloudy, darkened, dark as pitch, dark as a pit, dark as Erebus, benighted, noctivagant, noctivagous, in the dark, in the shade, brief as the lightning in the collied night, eldest Night and Chaos, ancestors of Nature, the blackness of the noonday night, the prayer of Ajax was for light.

Blackness

N blackness darkness, (want of light), swartliness, lividity, dark color, tone, color, chiaroscuro, nigrification, infuscation, jet, ink, ebony, coal pitch, soot, charcoal, sloe, smut, raven, crow, negro, blackamoor, man of color, nigger, darkie, Ethiop, black, buck, nigger, coon, sambo, lampblack, ivory black, blueblack, writing ink, printing ink, printer's ink, Indian ink, India ink, in mourning.

Gray

N gray, neutral tint, silver, pepper and salt, chiaroscuro, grisaille, Payne's gray, black, gray, grey, iron-gray, dun, drab, dingy, leaden, livid, somber, sad, pearly, russet, roan, calcareous, limy, favillous, silver, silvery, silvered, ashen, ashy, cinereous, cineritious, grizzly, grizzled, slate-colored, stone-colored, mouse-colored, ash-colored, cool.

Painting

N painting, depicting, drawing, design, perspective, sciagraphy, skiagraphy, chiaroscuro, composition, treatment, historical painting, portrait painting, miniature painting, landscape painting, marine painting, still life, flower painting, scene painting, scenography, school, style, the grand style, high art, genre, portraiture, ornamental art, monochrome, polychrome, grisaille, pallet, palette, easel, brush, pencil, stump, black lead, charcoal, crayons, chalk, pastel, paint, watercolor, body color, oil color, oils, oil paint, varnish, priming, gouache, tempera, distemper, fresco, water glass, enamel, encaustic painting, mosaic, tapestry, photography, heliography, color photography, sun painting, graphics, computer graphics, picture, painting, piece, tableau, canvas, oil painting, fresco, cartoon, easel picture, cabinet picture, draught, draft, pencil drawing, water color drawing, etching, charcoal, pen-and-ink, sketch, outline, study, photograph, color photograph, black-and-white photograph, holograph, heliograph, daguerreotype, talbotype, calotype, heliotype, negative, positive, print, glossy print, matte print, enlargement, reduction, life-size print, instant photo, Polaroid photo, technicolor, Kodachrome, Ektachrome, Polaroid, portrait, whole length, full length, half length, kitcat, head, miniature, shade, silhouette, profile, landscape, seapiece, view, scene, prospect, panorama, diorama, still life, picture gallery, exhibit, studio, atelier, pinacotheca, painted, pictorial, graphic, picturesque, pencil, oil, in pencil, fecit, delineavit, mutum est pictura poema.