| Library / English Dictionary |
COMPLEXION
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(obsolete) a combination of elements (of dryness and warmth or of the four humors) that was once believed to determine a person's health and temperament
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("complexion" is a kind of...):
nature (the complex of emotional and intellectual attributes that determine a person's characteristic actions and reactions)
Domain usage:
archaicism; archaism (the use of an archaic expression)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Texture and appearance of the skin of the face
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("complexion" is a kind of...):
appearance; visual aspect (outward or visible aspect of a person or thing)
Derivation:
complexion (give a certain color to)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The coloring of a person's face
Synonyms:
complexion; skin color; skin colour
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("complexion" is a kind of...):
color; coloring; colour; colouring (a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect)
Attribute:
blond; blonde; light-haired (being or having light colored skin and hair and usually blue or grey eyes)
brunet; brunette (marked by dark or relatively dark pigmentation of hair or skin or eyes)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "complexion"):
blondness; fairness; paleness (the property of having a naturally light complexion)
rosiness; ruddiness (a healthy reddish complexion)
achromasia; lividity; lividness; luridness; paleness; pallidness; pallor; wanness (unnatural lack of color in the skin (as from bruising or sickness or emotional distress))
sallowness (a sickly yellowish skin color)
tawniness (the quality or state of being the color of tanned leather)
darkness; duskiness; swarthiness (a swarthy complexion)
whiteness (lightness or fairness of complexion)
Derivation:
complexion (give a certain color to)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A point of view or general attitude or inclination
Example:
a liberal political complexion
Classified under:
Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents
Hypernyms ("complexion" is a kind of...):
point of view; stand; standpoint; viewpoint (a mental position from which things are viewed)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A combination that results from coupling or interlinking
Example:
diphthongs are complexions of vowels
Classified under:
Nouns denoting groupings of people or objects
Hypernyms ("complexion" is a kind of...):
combination (a collection of things that have been combined; an assemblage of separate parts or qualities)
Derivation:
complect (be interwoven or interconnected)
II. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Give a certain color to
Example:
The setting sun complexioned the hills
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "complexion" is one way to...):
tinct; tinge; tint; touch (color lightly)
Sentence frame:
Something ----s something
Derivation:
complexion (texture and appearance of the skin of the face)
complexion (the coloring of a person's face)
Context examples:
Anne could listen no longer; she could not even have told how the poor Admiral's complexion escaped; her letter engrossed her.
(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)
Nothing could be more becoming to your complexion than that ruffian's rouge.
(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)
The classification is based on the skin complexion and the degree of tolerance to sun exposure and it relates to the amount of melanin pigment in the skin.
(Fitzpatrick Classification Scale, NCI Thesaurus)
About five ft. seven in. in height; strongly built, sallow complexion, black hair, a little bald in the centre, bushy, black side-whiskers and moustache; tinted glasses, slight infirmity of speech.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
That minister was galbet, or admiral of the realm, very much in his master’s confidence, and a person well versed in affairs, but of a morose and sour complexion.
(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)
Her queenly figure was moulded upon large and noble lines, while her face, though already tending to become somewhat heavy and coarse, was still remarkable for the brilliancy of the complexion, the beauty of the large, light blue eyes, and the tinge of the dark hair which curled over the low white forehead.
(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
She sacrificed her complexion floating on the river in the midsummer sun to study light and shade, and got a wrinkle over her nose trying after 'points of sight', or whatever the squint-and-string performance is called.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)
The symptoms and signs may include rapidly developing adiposity of the face, neck, and trunk, kyphosis caused by osteoporosis of the spine, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, amenorrhea, hypertrichosis in females, impotence in males, dusky complexion with purple markings, polycythemia, pain in the abdomen and back, and muscular wasting and weakness.
(Cushing syndrome, NLM, Medical Subject Headings)
“I cannot separate Miss Fairfax and her complexion.”
(Emma, by Jane Austen)
To see the expression of her eyes, the change of her complexion, the progress of her feelings, their doubt, confusion, and felicity, was enough.
(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)
