texture

Pluraltextures

Formstextures, texturing, textured

1. 1
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The feel or shape of a surface or substance, such as its smoothness, roughness, or softness.

   The chef praised the creamy texture of the sauce.

   Coarse sandpaper has a rough texture that wears down soft wood.

   Similarfeel, consistency, surface, grain

2. 2
   nouncountable or uncountable

   The quality given to a work of art by the way its parts are composed and interact.

   Critics admired the dense texture of the orchestral piece.

   The collage builds its texture from torn paper and scraps of fabric.

   Similarfabric, structure, composition, weave

   Note

   Critics and musicians use the word for how a work's layers sit together. In music it is the standard way to describe how voices combine. A homophonic texture, for instance, sets a melody over chords, and the word pairs readily with dense, thin or layered. In painting or collage it can also mean real surface, where it shades into the physical sense.

3. 3
   nouncountable

   In computer graphics, an image wrapped onto a polygon to give it the look of a surface material such as wood or stone.

   The designer wrapped a wood-grain texture around the table model.

   Each texture is stretched across the polygons using mapping coordinates.

   Note

   Here the word stops naming a quality and names a thing: an image a program paints onto the flat faces of a 3D model, so that a plain shape reads as wood, stone or skin. Because it is a thing, it counts and lists alongside its neighbors. Will Smith's Maximum PC Guide to Building a Dream PC (2004) has a video card drawing "every polygon, texture, and particle effect."

4. 4
   verbtransitive

   To create a surface feel or pattern, or to apply one to something.

   The plasterers texture the ceiling before it dries.

   He likes to texture his clay pots with a carved stamp.

   Similarpattern, roughen

   Oppositesmooth

   Note

   The verb works in two quite different trades. Plasterers texture a wall by dragging a trowel through wet plaster, which follows the physical sense. Game developers texture a model by applying images to it, following the graphics sense; if they forget, a floor can turn invisible. The past participle textured serves both trades.

5. 5
   adjectiveslang

   Having a texture so pronounced that it draws a strong response, often an approving one.

   The new dessert is incredibly texture, with crunchy and creamy layers.

   Her knitwear is texture enough to win over any skeptic.

   Note

   This is a recent online use from autistic communities, where texture is a sensory matter and a comfortable texture can prompt stimming. Grammatically it is a noun doing an adjective's job: "so texture", "just so texture", "more texture". It is usually approving, though it can also mark discomfort, as with makeup that leaves skin no longer smooth. Keep it to casual, online writing.

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