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poin·til·lism

(pwăntə-lĭz′əm, pointl-ĭz′əm)

A postimpressionist school of painting exemplified by Georges Seurat and his followers in late 19th-century France, characterized by the application of paint in small dots and brush strokes.

[French pointillisme, from pointiller, to paint small dots, stipple, from Old French *pointille, engraved with small dots, from point, point, from Latin pūnctum, from neuter past participle of pungere, to prick; see peuk- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

pointil·list adj. & n.

poin′til·listic adj.

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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