# palette

Pronunciation: US/UK say "PAL-it" /ˈpælɪt/; AUS say "PAL-uht" /ˈpælət/

## Noun

1. A thin board that a painter uses to set out and mix paints.
   - Simple: A thin, flat board where a painter puts out and mixes paint colors.
   - _He mixed a muddy green on his palette and dabbed it onto the canvas._
   - _Dried paint had built up in thick ridges around the edge of the old palette._
2. A set of colors available for use or for mixing.
   - Simple: A group of colors that you can choose from or mix.
   - _The paint company offers a palette of forty exterior shades._
   - _For this exercise, students may work only from a limited palette of red, yellow, blue and white._
3. A selection of makeup shades, such as eyeshadows, often sold together in one tray.
   - Simple: A set of makeup in many colors, often sold together in one tray.
   - _The holiday palette includes twelve eyeshadows and two highlighters._
   - _She dipped her brush into the palette and swept a soft bronze across her eyelids._
4. The range of colors used in a particular work or item, or across a body of work.
   - Simple: All the colors used in a picture, a design, an object or an artist's work.
   - _Her later paintings shift to a darker palette of browns and deep reds._
   - _The brand keeps the same color palette of navy and gold in every store._
5. In a graphical interface, an on-screen selection of colors, tools, commands or similar items for the user to pick from.
   - Simple: In a computer program, a group of colors, tools or commands shown on the screen to choose from.
   - _The layers palette lets you hide, lock or reorder parts of an image._
   - _Designers can dock the command palette beside the drawing area._
6. In music, the variety of tones and tone colors a composer or performer draws on in a particular work or performance.
   - Simple: The different sounds and kinds of tone used in a piece of music or a performance.
   - _The score's orchestral palette leans on low brass and muted strings._
   - _The quartet's palette stretched from whispery harmonics to rich, full chords._
7. A plate that a person presses their chest against to put force behind a hand-operated drill.
   - Simple: A plate you push your chest against to press hard on a hand drill.
   - _Leaning hard against the palette, the shipwright bored a hole through the oak plank._
   - _The breast drill in the museum still has its worn wooden palette._
8. A plate of armor covering the joint at the bend of the shoulder or of the elbow.
   - Simple: A piece of metal armor that covered the bend of the shoulder or the elbow.
   - _A small steel palette protected the gap where the arm met the shoulder._
   - _The armorer riveted a new palette over the elbow joint of the suit._

## Noun

9. A limited set of choices, options or tasks drawn from all of those currently available. *(rare)*
   - Simple: A small group of choices or tasks picked out from everything that is possible.
   - _Managers were handed a palette of cost-cutting options and asked to choose two._
   - _The council narrowed the debate to a palette of four transit plans._

## Origin

Borrowed from French palette; it is a doublet of pallet, the two words sharing the same source.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/palette (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).