What does "lunette" mean?
A small opening in a vaulted roof of a circular or crescent shape.
Lunette
/luːˈnɛt/ noun
noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A small opening in a vaulted roof of a circular or crescent shape.
- Grammar: lunette is listed as noun.
- Nearest alternatives: abatis, bank, barbican, barricade.
- Usage evidence: Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.
How to use "lunette"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "lunette" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "lunette" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "lunette" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "lunette" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "lunette" is acting as noun in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "abatis" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "lunette", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A small opening in a vaulted roof of a circular or crescent shape.
"Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime."
- 2 oval or circular opening; to allow light into a dome or vault wordnet
- 3 A crescent-shaped recess or void in the space above a window or door.
"The decoration of a lunette discovered in the Duomo of Pistoia in the 1950s, which represents Christ blessing and Saints James and John, all bust-length, constitutes a more remarkable and stylistically more advanced approach to painting."
- 4 temporary fortification like a detached bastion wordnet
- 5 An image or other representation of a crescent moon. obsolete
"The lesser portions of the tablet has over this Mithras, a lunette or symbol of the moon, who, according to Porphyry's comment, is the queen of generation and as such was denominated by the ancients both a bee and a bull [...]."
Show 9 more definitions
- 6 A field work consisting of two projecting faces forming a wedge each of which extends from one of two parallel flanks.
"This Lunette, as we have seen, was confronted, and even in siege-form "approached", by a part of Canrobert's army [...]."
- 7 A luna: a crescent-shaped receptacle, often glass, for holding the (consecrated) host (the bread of communion) upright when exposed in the monstrance.
"On those occasions when lunettes, custodia and monstrances are used, the sacristan needs to be sure that the lunette fits into the given monstrance, that the host fits into the lunette, and that the host is put out before Mass for consecration."
- 8 A type of flattened glass used in watch-making.
"Lunette and double lunette glasses are generally sized in quarters; crystals and thin flat lunettes for hunters in eighths."
- 9 The circular hole in the guillotine in which the victim's neck is placed.
"some "future" events may be likelier than others, O.K., but all are chimeric, and every cause-and-effect sequence is always a hit-and-miss affair, even if the lunette has already closed around your neck, and the cretinous crowd holds its breath."
- 10 A type of crescent-shaped dune blown up along a lake basin, especially in dry areas of Australia.
"Sticking out of a crescent-shaped sand ridge of a type known as a lunette were some human bones."
- 11 A half horseshoe, lacking the sponge.
- 12 A piece of felt to cover the eye of a vicious horse.
- 13 An iron shoe at the end of the stock of a gun carriage.
- 14 See lunettes. in-plural
Example
"Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "lunette"?
Common synonyms include: abatis, bank, barbican, barricade, barrier, bartizan.
How do you use "lunette" in a sentence?
Nanny Broome was looking up at the outer wall. Just under the ceiling there were three lunette windows, heavily barred and blacked out in the normal way by centuries of grime.
How do you pronounce "lunette"?
Pronounced /luːˈnɛt/.
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French lunette, diminutive of lune (“moon”).