From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishvignettevi‧gnette /vɪˈnjet/ noun [countable] formal 1 ALa short description in a book or play showing the typical features of a person or situation2 TCNa small picture or design at the beginning or end of a book or chapter
Examples from the Corpus
vignette• A vignette is an illustration without border or frame, the picture shading off into the surrounding paper.• A vignette of working life in the coming years?• We suspect that the high concentration in the first clinical vignette was due to sampling too early.• His vignettes depict scenes of trapped journalists, straggling soldiers and gruesome battles.• Turning to my husband-to-be, Don used little vignettes to introduce John to the congregation.• They had all written pages and pages of vignettes about their lives.• In other cases the access would have to come indirectly through vignettes and case histories.Origin vignette (1700-1800) French vigne ( → VINE); because drawings in books often included vines 