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Maquette came to English directly from French, first appearing in our language in the late 19th century. The French word, which possesses the same meaning as its English descendant, derived from the Italian noun macchietta, meaning "sketch," and ultimately from Latin macula, meaning "spot." Maquettes are generally intended to serve as rough models of larger designs. Architects make maquettes of their buildings, and sculptors often create maquettes in wax or clay to help them realize the final sculpture. As an aside, you might spot something familiar in the word's Latin ancestor. The term "macula" in English refers to a spot (such as one on the eye) that is different from surrounding tissue; this is where we get the term "macular degeneration."

Examples of maquette in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The imbas drew curators’ eyes and sparked a studio epiphany when Leigh placed a small ceramic head on the maquette of a hut. — New York Times, 14 Apr. 2022 An unveiling of a maquette of the statue, and an update into the courtyard project, was held inside the Arthur R. Outlaw Mobile Convention Center on Tuesday. — al, 8 Mar. 2022 Chase-Ribaud submitted the maquette to an art competition in Truth’s Massachusetts hometown in 1999, but another artist won the commission. — Wendy Bellion, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Jan. 2022 Directly across the gallery is Barbara Chase-Ribaud’s maquette (or model) for a sculpture honoring the abolitionist leader Sojourner Truth. — Wendy Bellion, Smithsonian Magazine, 28 Jan. 2022 Early on, Duggal sculpted a maquette that served as a character reference for the character which also gave everyone something physical to interact with, such as determining lighting. — Jazz Tangcay, Variety, 4 Oct. 2021 To inspect Carol Brown Goldberg’s wooden precursor to a funky bronze pillar, or John L. Dreyfuss’s wax-and-wood maquette of a fiberglass monolith, is to gain a fresh perspective on the link between form and material. — Washington Post, 17 Sep. 2021 While visiting the Museum of Modern Art in 1968, the Texas oil executive John de Menil saw the maquette for a sculpture that seemed more suited to Houston than to midtown Manhattan. — Jonathon Keats, Forbes, 25 May 2021 Wood could have used a bar of Masonite and glue to compensate for the imbalances, but that would have diminished the accuracy of the maquette. — Peter Libbey, New York Times, 12 Mar. 2021 See More

These example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'maquette.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.