Word.ws English Dictionary

conté

Syllables: Con·té/ˈkɒnteɪ/US/ˈkɑnteɪ/

conté is the alternative letter-case form of Conté.

Noun capitalized: Conté

Conté (countable and uncountable, plural Contés)

  1. A drawing medium, usually square in cross-section, composed of compressed powdered charcoal or graphite mixed with a clay or wax base.
    • Conté is an artificial chalk, of which there are various kinds. The square Conté, Number 1, is hard; Number 2, is soft; Number 3, is very soft. […] Dutch Chalk is a new kind, in some respects equal to the best Contés, and sold at a moderate price.1849, H[enry] O’Neill, “Materials”, in A Guide to Pictorial Art: How to Use the Black Lead Pencil, Chalks, and Water Colours; […], 4th edition, London: George Rowney, & Co., […], →OCLC, part I, 2nd...
    • A woman and a girl seated on chairs in a park. Conté crayon.1992, Carol Clark, “Catalogue”, in Robert P. O’Neill, editor, American Drawings and Watercolors (The Robert Lehman Collection; VIII), New York, N.Y.: Metropolitan Museum of Art in association with...
    Synonyms:
    Conté crayon

Synonyms of conté

  • Conté crayon

Forms of conté

pluralcontés
pluralContés
alternative formConte
alternative formconté

Origin of conté

From the surname of its inventor, French painter and army officer Nicolas-Jacques Conté (1755–1805), who created it in 1795.

Questions about conté

What does conté mean?
Conté means a drawing medium, usually square in cross-section, composed of compressed powdered charcoal or graphite mixed with a clay or wax base.
What is conté the alternative letter-case form of?
Conté is the alternative letter-case form of Conté.
What part of speech is conté?
Conté is a noun.
How do you pronounce conté?
Conté is pronounced /ˈkɒnteɪ/ (UK).
What is the plural of conté?
The plural of conté is contés.

Words near conté in the dictionary

  1. contynue
  2. contynued
  3. contynues
  4. contynuing
  5. contypic
  6. conté
  7. Contés
  8. conubial
  9. conuenient
  10. conular
  11. conularid

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: conté (page history and authors); Conté (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated:

Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Vealhurl-Conté.wav.

Cite this entry: “conté.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/cont%C3%A9. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.