noun · verb · 15 senses · updated from the 2026-07-25 local source snapshot
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
US:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Received-Pronunciation:/kənˈtɹɑːst/
Southern-England:Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
Northern-England, Scotland:/kənˈtɹast/
US:kəntrăst'
US:kŏn'trăst
US:/kənˈt(ʃ)ɹæst/
US:/ˈkɑnt(ʃ)ɹæst/
rhymes with -ɑːst
CMU ARPABET:K AA1 N T R AE0 S T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
CMU ARPABET 2:K AH0 N T R AE1 S T
Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
1
noun
Meaning 1
A difference in lightness, brightness or hue between two colours that makes them more or less distinguishable.
The degree of this difference.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Examples
The red and the orange don't have much contrast between them — I can hardly tell them apart.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
2
noun
Meaning 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.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
3
noun
Meaning 3
A difference between two objects, people or concepts.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
Examples
Israel is a country of many contrasts.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
4
noun
Meaning 4
Something that is opposite of or strikingly different from something else.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
5
noun
Meaning 5
Antithesis.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: countable, rhetoric, uncountable
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
6
noun
Meaning 6
Contrast medium
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: uncountable
Topics: medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
7
verb
Meaning 7
To set in opposition in order to show the difference or differences between; to counterpoint.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
8
verb
Meaning 8
To form a contrast.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: intransitive, often
Examples
Foreground and background strongly contrast.
The color of her dress contrasts very nicely with the black scarf around her neck.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
9
noun
Meaning 9
the act of distinguishing by comparing differences
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: comparison, comparing
10
noun
Meaning 10
the range of optical density and tone on a photographic negative or print (or the extent to which adjacent areas on a television screen differ in brightness)
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
