noun
Meaning 1
The quality, colour, or appearance of the skin on the face.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Examples
- a rugged complexion
- a sunburnt complexion
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Standard Lemma guide
complexion
Definitions and examples are grouped by meaning. Pronunciation, history, word forms, translations, descendants, synonyms, antonyms, derived terms, and related words appear whenever the source provides them.
Sound
Pronunciation
Each Play button uses your device's default local English voice, or a natural local fallback. The selected voice name appears after playback. This is synthesized speech, not a source recording.
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General-American: /kəmˈplɛkʃən/
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General-American: Recorded audio is listed in the source snapshot.
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rhymes with -ɛkʃən
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CMU ARPABET: K AH0 M P L EH1 K SH AH0 N Digits mark lexical stress: 1 primary, 2 secondary, 0 unstressed.
noun
Meaning 2
The outward appearance of something.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: figuratively
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 3
Outlook, attitude, or point of view.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 4
The combination of humours making up one's physiological "temperament", being either hot or cold, and moist or dry.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: obsolete
Topics: medicine, sciences
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 5
An arrangement.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: especially
Qualifier: loanword
Examples
- 1909, Ludwig Boltzmann, translated by Kim Sharp and Franz Matschinsky Second there is the level at which the energy or velocity components of each molecule are specified. He calls this a Komplexion, which we translate literally as complexion.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
verb
Meaning 6
To give a colour to.
Definition source: English Wiktionary via Wiktextract
Usage: transitive
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
noun
Meaning 7
(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
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: nature
noun
Meaning 8
texture and appearance of the skin of the face
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: appearance, visual aspect
noun
Meaning 9
the coloring of a person's face
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
No example sentence was provided for this meaning.
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: skin color, skin colour
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: color, colour, coloring, colouring
Narrower terms: paleness, blondness, fairness, ruddiness, rosiness, lividness, lividity, luridness, pallidness, pallor, wanness, achromasia, sallowness, tawniness, darkness, duskiness, swarthiness, whiteness
noun
Meaning 10
a point of view or general attitude or inclination
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- he altered the complexion of his times
- a liberal political complexion
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: point of view, viewpoint, stand, standpoint
noun
Meaning 11
a combination that results from coupling or interlinking
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- diphthongs are complexions of vowels
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: combination
verb
Meaning 12
give a certain color to
Definition source: Princeton WordNet 3.0
Examples
- The setting sun complexioned the hills
Meaning relationships
Synonyms: none provided
Antonyms: none provided
Broader terms: tint, tinct, tinge, touch
History
Etymology
From Middle English complexion (“temperament”), from Old French complexion (French complexion), from Medieval Latin complexiō (“complexion, constitution”), from complector, past participle complexus (“to entwine, encompass”).
Across languages
Translations
54 source translations are retained for this English entry.
- Albanian: pamje e lëkurës — appearance of the skin on the face
- Arabic: بَشْرَة (bašra) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Basque: tankera — appearance of the skin on the face
- Bulgarian: тен (ten) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Cebuano: pamanit — appearance of the skin on the face
- Chinese: 頭面 /头面 (zh-min-nan) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Chinese Mandarin: 臉色 /脸色 (liǎnsè) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Chinese Mandarin: 面色 (miànsè) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Czech: pleť — appearance of the skin on the face
- Czech: pokožka — appearance of the skin on the face
- Czech: barva pleti — appearance of the skin on the face
- Dutch: teint — appearance of the skin on the face
- Dutch: huidskleur — appearance of the skin on the face
- Faroese: dámur — appearance of the skin on the face
- Finnish: ihonväri — appearance of the skin on the face
- Finnish: hipiä — appearance of the skin on the face
- French: teint — appearance of the skin on the face
- French: complexion — appearance of the skin on the face
- Galician: cute — appearance of the skin on the face
- German: Teint — appearance of the skin on the face
- German: Gesichtsfarbe — appearance of the skin on the face
- Greek: χρώμα (chróma) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Ancient Greek: χρώς (khrṓs) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Hungarian: arcszín — appearance of the skin on the face
- Indonesian: warna kulit muka — appearance of the skin on the face
- Interlingua: complexion — appearance of the skin on the face
- Irish: snamh — appearance of the skin on the face
- Italian: carnagione — appearance of the skin on the face
- Japanese: 顔色 (kaoiro) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Korean: 안색 (ansaek) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Korean: 얼굴색 (eolgulsaek) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Luxembourgish: Teint — appearance of the skin on the face
- Malay: warna kulit — appearance of the skin on the face
- Mongolian: єнгє зїс (öngö züs) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Navajo: akágí ánóolingi — appearance of the skin on the face
- Norwegian Bokmål: hudfarge — appearance of the skin on the face
- Norwegian Nynorsk: hudfarge — appearance of the skin on the face
- Occitan: tench — appearance of the skin on the face
- Occitan: tint — appearance of the skin on the face
- Polish: cera — appearance of the skin on the face
- Polish: karnacja — appearance of the skin on the face
- Polish: płeć — appearance of the skin on the face
- Portuguese: tez — appearance of the skin on the face
- Romanian: trăsătură — appearance of the skin on the face
- Romanian: ten — appearance of the skin on the face
- Russian: цвет лица́ (cvet licá) — appearance of the skin on the face
- Spanish: tez — appearance of the skin on the face
- Spanish: cutis — appearance of the skin on the face
- Swedish: hy — appearance of the skin on the face
- Tagalog: kulay ng balat — appearance of the skin on the face
- Tagalog: kutis — appearance of the skin on the face
- Vietnamese: nước da — appearance of the skin on the face
- Yao (Africa): ceejewu — appearance of the skin on the face
- Zulu: bala — appearance of the skin on the face
Real reading context