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Glite Dictionary
😊 Skin appearance 🏛️ General character ⚗️ Old health theory 🎨 To color
to complexion

to complexion

1 9.9
To give a color to something, often by light
  • verb
  • /kəmˈplɛkʃən/
  • Archaic
translation icon : matizar
  • To his colleagues, he was "a slender, dark-complexioned man of unassuming manner" and "sweet disposition."

Examples

  • The Marchioness was tall and reed-slim, and her beautiful, pale-complexioned, heart-shaped face was animated by a lovely pair of slanted, lively sherry eyes.

    Fiction book (1991)

  • She was, moreover, an altogether beautiful woman—fair-complexioned, with dark eyes and golden hair.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • I met a young white girl who stood all evening surrounded by tall, white-complexioned young men wearing glasses.

    Fiction book (1993)

  • Sending a beautiful, voluptuous, honey-caramel-complexioned sister here to do battle with the big bad brother from the streets

    Who's Your Caddy? (2007)

  • This meant that the light-complexioned sectors of the slave population were in a better position to assume leadership in the economic, social, and political life of Black America.

    Academic text (1994)

  • It is my belief that Black women (especially darker-complexioned women) are the most beautiful of any population of women in the world.

    Blog text (3)

  • When Shelly arrived for her appointment, her friend was vigorously at work on an alabaster-complexioned teenager.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • Until we let go of the "Oprah Winfrey effect," I hate light-complexioned black women but love white women; nothing's going to change.

    Blog text (20)

  • The artist wanted to complexion the canvas with warm shades to evoke a sense of sunset.

  • She decided to complexion the walls in soft pastels to create a calming atmosphere in the room.

Synonyms

to color
vsto complexion
  • US
228 1.0

To make something a different shade by painting or dyeing

gives a precise shade rather than a broad change of hue
to pigment
vsto complexion
1 5.1

To add color to something by applying a colored substance or by natural change

gives a particular hue without focusing on material or process

Compounds

fair complexion
1 3.5

Light skin that often burns easily in the sun

permatanned complexion
7.9

Skin that looks brown all year because of a fake tan

How Colored

to saturate
55 5.2
to stain
113 3.2
to dye
37 2.2
to complexion
  • Archaic
1 9.9
to color
  • US
228 1.0
to tint
24 3.6

Surface Forms

complexion infinitive

Etymology

The verb complexion (rare) comes from the same idea as the noun complexion — a joining together that gives an overall look. So to 'complexion' something is to give it a particular color or tone, as if changing its outward 'look'.