nu·ance

[noo-ahns, nyoo-, noo-ahns, nyoo-; French ny-ahns]
noun, plural nu·anc·es [noo-ahn-siz, nyoo-, noo-ahn-siz, nyoo-; French ny-ahns] .
1.
a subtle difference or distinction in expression, meaning, response, etc.
2.
a very slight difference or variation in color or tone.

Origin:
1775–85; < French: shade, hue, equivalent to nu(er) to shade (literally, to cloud < Vulgar Latin *nūbāre, derivative of *nūba, for Latin nūbēs cloud) + -ance -ance

nu·anced, adjective
un·nu·anced, adjective


1. subtlety, nicety, hint, refinement.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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00:10
Nuance is always a great word to know.
So is doohickey. Does it mean:
a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.
a chattering or flighty, light-headed person.
Collins
World English Dictionary
nuance (njuːˈɑːns, ˈnjuːɑːns) [Click for IPA pronunciation guide]
 
n
1.  a subtle difference in colour, meaning, tone, etc; a shade or graduation
 
vb
2.  to give subtle differences to: carefully nuanced words
 
[C18: from French, from nuer to show light and shade, ultimately from Latin nūbēs a cloud]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History

nuance
1781, from Fr. nuance "slight difference, shade of color," from nuer "to shade," from nue "cloud," from Gallo-Romance *nuba, from L. nubes "cloud;" related to obnubere "to veil," from PIE *sneudh- "fog" (cf. Avestan snaoda "clouds," Welsh nudd "fog," Gk. nython, in Hesychius "dark, dusky").
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
nuance [(nooh-ahns)]

A fine shade of meaning: “I liked the film, but I know I missed some of its nuances.”

The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Example sentences
They had great speed, too, staying with every nuance of the music.
There are no shades of gray in the report, however, and the lack of nuance can
  be disconcerting.
They are open to wide interpretation, and are therefore loaded with nuance in
  themselves.
Unfortunately such familiarity does not come across in this piece, which seems
  to be missing nuance in key places.
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