bas-relief

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The Word of the Day for April 27 is:

bas-relief   \bah-ri-LEEF\   noun
     : sculptural relief in which the projection from the surrounding surface 
is slight and no part of the modeled form is undercut; also : a sculpture 
executed in bas-relief

Example sentence:
     Jamal admired the bas-reliefs carved into the walls of the ancient 
Assyrian palace.

Did you know?
     The best way to understand the meaning of "bas-relief" is to see one -- 
and the easiest way to do that is to pull one out of your pocket. Just take out 
a penny, nickel, or other coin and examine the raised images on it; they're all 
bas-reliefs. English speakers adopted "bas-relief" from French (where "bas" 
means "low" and "relief" means "raised work") during the mid-1600s. A few 
decades earlier, we also borrowed the synonymous "basso-relievo" from Italian. 
The French and Italian terms have common ancestors (and, in fact, the French 
word is likely a translation of the Italian), but English speakers apparently 
borrowed the two independently. "Bas-relief" is more prevalent in English 
today, although the Italian-derived term has not disappeared completely from 
the language.





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