CONTOUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does contour mean? 

• CONTOUR (noun)
  The noun CONTOUR has 3 senses:

1. a line drawn on a map connecting points of equal height

2. any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline)

3. a feature (or the order or arrangement of features) of anything having a complex structure

  Familiarity information: CONTOUR used as a noun is uncommon.

• CONTOUR (verb)
  The verb CONTOUR has 1 sense:

1. form the contours of

  Familiarity information: CONTOUR used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CONTOUR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A line drawn on a map connecting points of equal height

Classified under:

Nouns denoting communicative processes and contents

Synonyms:

contour; contour line

Hypernyms ("contour" is a kind of...):

isometric; isometric line (a line connecting isometric points)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "contour"):

thalweg (a line following the lowest points of a valley)

Derivation:

contour (form the contours of)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

configuration; conformation; contour; form; shape

Context example:

he could barely make out their shapes

Hypernyms ("contour" is a kind of...):

spatial property; spatiality (any property relating to or occupying space)

Attribute:

straight (having no deviations)

crooked (having or marked by bends or angles; not straight or aligned)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "contour"):

keenness; sharpness (thinness of edge or fineness of point)

bluntness; dullness (without sharpness or clearness of edge or point)

topography (the configuration of a surface and the relations among its man-made and natural features)

lobularity (the property of having lobules)

concaveness; concavity (the property possessed by a concave shape)

convexity; convexness (the property possessed by a convex shape)

angularity (the property possessed by a shape that has angles)

narrowing (an instance of becoming narrow)

curvature; curve (the property possessed by the curving of a line or surface)

roundness (the property possessed by a line or surface that is curved and not angular)

straightness (freedom from crooks or curves or bends or angles)

crookedness (having or distinguished by crooks or curves or bends or angles)

stratification (a layered configuration)

Derivation:

contour (form the contours of)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A feature (or the order or arrangement of features) of anything having a complex structure

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Context example:

it defines a major contour of this administration

Hypernyms ("contour" is a kind of...):

characteristic; feature (a prominent attribute or aspect of something)

• CONTOUR (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they contour    ... he / she / it contours   
Past simple: contoured   
Past participle: contoured   
-ing form: contouring   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Form the contours of

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "contour" is one way to...):

delineate; limn; outline (trace the shape of)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "contour"):

streamline (contour economically or efficiently)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

contour (any spatial attributes (especially as defined by outline))

contour (a line drawn on a map connecting points of equal height)

 Context examples 

A melanoma composed of cells with elongated nuclear and cytoplasmic contours (spindle cell cytology) that lacks melanin pigment.

(Mouse Amelanotic Spindle-cell Melanoma, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

A melanoma composed of cells with rounded nuclear and cytoplasmic contours (epithelioid cytology) that lacks melanin pigment.

(Mouse Amelanotic Epithelioid Melanoma, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

A small, faintly staining cell with scanty cytoplasm and rounded or polygonal contours.

(Chromophobe Cell, NCI Thesaurus)

The Greyhound is a sleek, contoured dog built for speed with a very deep chest and a flexible, curved spine.

(Greyhound, NCI Thesaurus)

It is characterized by the presence of lobulated contours, steatosis, and absence of inflammation or nuclear atypia.

(HNF1alpha-Inactivated Hepatocellular Adenoma, NCI Thesaurus)

LiDAR bounced pulsed laser light off the ground, revealing contours hidden by dense foliage in the 2,100-square-kilometer mapped area.

(Hidden Mayan Civilization Revealed in Guatemala Jungle, VOA)

It was, as seen from this height, of an oval contour, with a breadth of about thirty miles and a width of twenty.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The shape standing before me had never crossed my eyes within the precincts of Thornfield Hall before; the height, the contour were new to me.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

High grade based on marked nuclear atypia, including macronucleoli, marked enlargement with hyperchromasia and irregular nuclear contours, abundant mitoses/apoptosis, luminal comedo necrosis.

(High Grade Mouse Prostatic Intraepithelial Neoplasia, NCI Thesaurus/MMHCC)

A specific area of interest defined by a sequence of image overlays or a sequence of contours described as a single point (for a point ROI) or more than one point (representing and open or closed polygon).

(Imaging Region of Interest, NCI Thesaurus)