contour

English

The picture in the lower half shows the contours of elevation of the mountains above. The points on a single curve are at same elevation. Different lines may be at different elevation whose value is given in between the lines

Etymology

Borrowed from French contour, from contourner, equivalent to con- +‎ tour.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɒntʊə(ɹ)/, /-tɔː(ɹ)/
• (US, Canada)
  • IPA^(key): (pour–poor merger) /ˈkɑntɔɹ/; (without the pour–poor merger) /ˈkɑntʊɚ/, /ˈkɑntʊɹ/

    • Audio (US):

      (file)

• (General Australian, New Zealand) IPA^(key): /ˈkɔntʉːə/, /ˈkɒntʉːə/
• Homophone: kontor

Noun

contour (plural contours)

1. An outline, boundary or border, usually of curved shape.

   the low drag contour of a modern automobile

   • 1941 October, “Notes and News: Great Western Parcels Railcar”, in Railway Magazine, page 474:

     The semi-streamlined contour of the earlier G.W.R. railcars has been given up in favour of a more utilitarian blunt-nose end, and effective floor space gained thereby.

2. A line on a map or chart delineating those points which have the same altitude or other plotted quantity: a contour line or isopleth; (metonymically) the landform or its surface.

   Synonym: contour line

3. (linguistics) a speech sound which behaves as a single segment, but which makes an internal transition from one quality, place, or manner to another.

   Hyponyms: diphthong, contour tone, affricate

4. (figurative) A general description giving the most important points.
   • January 7 2023, Lisa Mascaro, Farnoush Amiri, “McCarthy elected House speaker in rowdy post-midnight vote”, in AP News‎:

     Contours of a deal with conservative holdouts who had been blocking McCarthy’s rise had emerged the night before, and took hold after four dismal days and 14 failed votes in an intraparty standoff unseen in modern times.

Derived terms

• contourable
• contour chase
• contour diaper
• contour feather
• contour integral
• contour interval
• contourite
• contourless
• contourlet
• contour map
• executive contour
• isocontour
• recontour

Translations

outline, boundary or border

Bulgarian: очерта́ние (bg) n (očertánie), конту́р (bg) m (kontúr) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: 輪廓 / 轮廓 (zh) (lúnkuò) Esperanto: konturo (eo) Finnish: ääriviiva (fi) French: contour (fr) m German: Kontur (de) f Italian: contorno (it) m, profilo (it) m Japanese: 輪郭 (ja) (りんかく, rinkaku) Lao: please add this translation if you can Macedonian: оцрт m (ocrt), контура f (kontura) Malay: kontur Ottoman Turkish: چوره (çevre) Polish: kontur (pl) m Portuguese: contorno (pt) m Russian: ко́нтур (ru) m (kóntur), очерта́ние (ru) n (očertánije), а́брис (ru) m (ábris) (poetically or literarily) Spanish: contorno (es) m Thai: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: đường viền, đường nét

line on a map or chart

Bulgarian: конту́р (bg) m (kontúr) Burmese: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: please add this translation if you can Finnish: korkeuskäyrä French: ligne de niveau (fr) f German: Höhenlinie (de) f, Höhenlinien (de) f pl, Isohypse (de) f, Niveaulinie f, Höhenschichtlinie f Greek: ισοϋψής (el) f (isoÿpsís) Irish: comhrian m Lao: please add this translation if you can Malay: garisan kontur Maori: hua (mi) Norwegian: Bokmål: høydekurve m Polish: izolinia (pl) f Russian: изоли́ния (ru) f (izolínija) Thai: please add this translation if you can Vietnamese: đường đồng mức

Verb

contour (third-person singular simple present contours, present participle contouring, simple past and past participle contoured)

1. (transitive) To form a more or less curved boundary or border upon.
2. (transitive) To mark with contour lines.
3. (intransitive) To practise the makeup technique of contouring.
   • 2015 April 29, Kathleen Hou, “Why French Women Don’t Contour”, in The Cut‎, New York, U.S.A.: Vox Media, retrieved July 2, 2020:

     What is the French-preferred method to add dimension to the skin, if not to contour?

Anagrams

• cornuto, countor, crouton, croûton

French

Etymology

Deverbal of contourner

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔ̃.tuʁ/

• Audio:

  (file)

Noun

contour m (plural contours)

1. contour

Further reading

• “contour”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Spanish

Noun

contour m (plural contours)

1. contour