contrapposto
Syllables: con·trap·pos·to/ˌkɒntɹəˈpɒstəʊ//ˌkɑntɹəˈpɑstoʊ/
contrapposto noun: the position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; (countable) an instance of this.
Noun
contrapposto (countable and uncountable, plural contrapposto or contrappostos or contrapposti)
- The position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; (countable) an instance of this.
- The Archaic kouros was always callipygian, the large buttocks more stressed and valued than the face. But the buttocks of the Kritios Boy have a feminine refinement, as erotic as breasts in Venetian painting. The contrapposto flexes one buttock and relaxes the other. The artist imagines them as...1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae: Art and Decadance from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, London; New Haven, Conn.: Yale Nota Bene, Yale University Press, published 2001, →ISBN
- The difference can be seen in the two competition reliefs for the doors of the Florence Baptistery by Lorenzo Ghiberti and Filippo Brunelleschi[…]: Ghiberti (right) offers a relaxed demonstration of his skill, close to the dancing definition of contrapposto, whereas Brunelleschi (left) proffers...1999, James Elkins, “Psychomachia”, in Pictures of the Body: Pain and Metamorphosis, Stanford, Calif.: Stanford University Press, →ISBN, part 1, page 87
contrapposto meaning in Arabic, Malay and Persian
contrapposto in Arabic
- position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; an instance of this
- وضعية التعارض
contrapposto in Malay
- position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; an instance of this
- contrapposto
contrapposto in Persian
- position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; an instance of this
- کجایستایی
Examples of contrapposto in a sentence
- The contrapposto flexes one buttock and relaxes the other.1990, Camille Paglia, Sexual Personae: Art and Decadance from Nefertiti to Emily Dickinson, London; New Haven, Conn.: Yale Nota Bene, Yale...
- The hawkers' athletic contrappostos, intellectual and imaginary rather than plausible, speak of the mind's superiority to the body.2002, Sean Shesgreen, “Broadsheet Cries and British Commerce”, in Images of the Outcast: The Urban Poor in the Cries of London, Manchester...
Forms of contrapposto
| plural | contrapposto |
|---|---|
| plural | contrappostos |
| plural | contrapposti |
Origin of contrapposto
Borrowed from Italian contrapposto (“contrasting; opposing”, adjective), the past participle of contrapporre (“to set against, counter”), from Latin contrāpōnere, the present active infinitive of contrāpōnō (“to oppose; to place opposite”), from contrā (“against; contrary to”) + pōnō (“to place, put”). The plural form contrapposti is borrowed from Italian contrapposti, the masculine plural form of contrapposto.
Questions about contrapposto
- What does contrapposto mean?
- Contrapposto means the position of a human figure whose hips and legs are twisted away from the direction of the head and shoulders; (countable) an instance of this.
- What is contrapposto in Arabic?
- Contrapposto in Arabic is وضعية التعارض. See Contrapposto meaning in Arabic.
- How do you use contrapposto in a sentence?
- The contrapposto flexes one buttock and relaxes the other.
- What part of speech is contrapposto?
- Contrapposto is a noun.
- How do you pronounce contrapposto?
- Contrapposto is pronounced /ˌkɒntɹəˈpɒstəʊ/ (UK).
- What is the plural of contrapposto?
- The plural of contrapposto is contrapposto.
Words near contrapposto in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: contrapposto (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-contrapposto.wav, LL-Q1860 (eng)-Naomi Persephone Amethyst (NaomiAmethyst)-contrapposto.wav.
Cite this entry: “contrapposto.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/contrapposto. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.