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• brown
  brown

  noun

  a dark tertiary color with a yellowish or reddish hue.
• Brown
  Brown

  noun

  Charles Brockden 1771–1810, U.S. writer and intellectual, known as “the Father of the American novel.”

brown

¹ American  

[broun] / braʊn /

noun

• browns
  plural

1. a dark tertiary color with a yellowish or reddish hue.

2. Offensive. a person whose skin has a light- or dark-brown pigmentation.

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adjective

• browner,
  comparative
• brownest
  superlative

1. of the color brown.

2. (of animals) having skin, fur, hair, or feathers of that color.

3. sunburned or tanned.

4. Often Offensive. (of human beings) having the skin naturally pigmented a brown color.

verb (used with or without object)

• browns,
  present (3rd person singular)
• browned,
  past participle,  past
• browning
  present participle

1. to make or become brown.

2. to fry, sauté, or scorch slightly in cooking.

   to brown onions before adding them to the stew. The potatoes browned in the pan.

verb phrase

1. brown out to subject to a brownout.

   The power failure browned out the southern half of the state.

idioms

1. browned off, angry; fed up.

2. do it up brown, to do thoroughly.

   When they entertain, they really do it up brown.

Brown ² American  

[broun] / braʊn /

noun

1. Charles Brockden 1771–1810, U.S. writer and intellectual, known as “the Father of the American novel.”

2. Clifford Brownie, 1930–56, U.S. jazz trumpeter and composer.

3. Herbert Charles, 1912–2004, U.S. chemist, born in England: Nobel Prize in Chemistry 1979.

4. Jerry Edmund Gerald Brown, Jr., born 1938, U.S. politician: governor of California 1975–83 and 2011–19.

5. Jim James Nathaniel Brown, 1936–2023, U.S. football player and actor: Pro Football Hall of Fame 1971.

6. John Osawatomie Brown, 1800–59, U.S. abolitionist: leader of the attack at Harpers Ferry, where he was captured, tried for treason, and hanged.

7. Margaret Wise, 1910–52, U.S. author noted for early-childhood books, including Goodnight Moon.

8. Olympia, 1835–1926, U.S. women's-rights activist and Universalist minister: first American woman ordained by a major church.

9. Robert, 1773–1858, Scottish botanist noted for his pioneering work in paleobotany and palynology.

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Brown ¹ British  

/ braʊn /

noun

1. Sir Arthur Whitten (ˈwɪt ^ə n). 1886–1948, British aviator who with J.W. Alcock made the first flight across the Atlantic (1919)

2. Ford Madox . 1821–93, British painter, associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings include The Last of England (1865) and Work (1865)

3. George ( Alfred ), Lord George-Brown. 1914–85, British Labour politician; vice-chairman and deputy leader of the Labour party (1960–70); foreign secretary 1966–68

4. George Mackay . 1921–96, Scottish poet, novelist, and short-story writer. His works, which include the novels Greenvoe (1972) and Magnus (1973), reflect the history and culture of Orkney

5. ( James ) Gordon . born 1951, British Labour politician; Chancellor of the Exchequer (1997–2007); prime minister (2007–10)

6. Herbert Charles . 1912–2004, US chemist, who worked on the compounds of boron. Nobel prize for chemistry 1979

7. James . 1933–2006, US soul singer and songwriter, noted for his dynamic stage performances and for his commitment to Black rights

8. John . 1800–59, US abolitionist leader, hanged after leading an unsuccessful rebellion of slaves at Harper's Ferry, Virginia

9. Lancelot , called Capability Brown . 1716–83, British landscape gardener

10. Michael ( Stuart ). born 1941, US physician: shared the Nobel prize for physiology or medicine (1985) for work on cholesterol

11. Robert . 1773–1858, Scottish botanist who was the first to observe the Brownian movement in fluids

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brown ² British  

/ braʊn /

noun

1. any of various colours, such as those of wood or earth, produced by low intensity light in the wavelength range 620–585 nanometres

2. a dye or pigment producing these colours

3. brown cloth or clothing

   dressed in brown

4. any of numerous mostly reddish-brown butterflies of the genera Maniola, Lasiommata , etc, such as M. jurtina ( meadow brown ): family Satyridae

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adjective

1. of the colour brown

2. (of bread) made from a flour that has not been bleached or bolted, such as wheatmeal or wholemeal flour

3. deeply tanned or sunburnt

verb

1. to make (esp food as a result of cooking) brown or (esp of food) to become brown

brown More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing brown

• do up (brown)

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Sensitive Note

Brown as a noun and adjective to describe people with a brownish skin color is often perceived as insulting. Historically it has been used by anthropologists and scientists as a racial and ethnic classification to describe various dark-skinned populations, as in North Africa, the Middle East, Malaysia, and South Asia. It is also a term associated with colonialism. In recent times, brown has been used of Hispanics and South Asians in North America, many of whom self-identify as brown.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• brownness
  noun
• overbrown
  verb
• brownish
  adjective
• browny
  adjective
• unbrowned
  adjective
• well-browned
  adjective

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• browns
  plural

Adjectives

• browner
  comparative
• brownest
  superlative

Participles

• browning
  present
• browned
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• brown
  simple
• browns
  simple
• have browned
  perfect
• has browned
  perfect
• am browning
  progressive
• are browning
  progressive
• is browning
  progressive
• have been browning
  perfect progressive
• has been browning
  perfect progressive

Past

• browned
  simple
• had browned
  perfect
• was browning
  progressive
• were browning
  progressive
• had been browning
  perfect progressive

Future

• will brown
  simple
• will have browned
  perfect
• will be browning
  progressive
• will have been browning
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of brown

First recorded before 1000; Middle English; Old English brūn; cognate with Dutch bruin, German braun, Old Norse brūnn; akin to Lithuanian brúnas; cf. bear ² ( def. ), bruin ( def. )

Explanation

Brown is the color an artist gets by mixing yellow, red, and blue. Chocolate, dark wood, roasted coffee beans, and old-fashioned photographs are all various shades of brown. You might think of brown as a muddy color, and that's true in a couple of ways: mud is generally brown, and brown paint is a muddy combination of colors. In the category of brown, though, there's endless variety, from toasted bread to rich brown eyes to a horse's light brown mane. As a verb, brown means "to become browner in color" or "to make browner," as when you brown the top of a pie in the oven.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

brown Brown browns browner brownest browned browning

The inquest in Crook heard the building's owner, Peter Moody, was pulling up floorboards in the second floor living room when he saw an object wrapped in old brown paper.

From BBC ● Sep. 17, 2026

The other day, I grated two enormous zucchini into a bowl containing a quarter-can of pumpkin, brown sugar, cocoa powder and enough chopped bittersweet chocolate to make the whole operation look suspiciously like brownie batter.

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2026

But those mixtures usually absorb light broadly across the visible spectrum, giving them a brown or black appearance.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 13, 2026

They shimmer from the pages like bright bits of stained glass, and their names are equally enchanting: common blue, painted lady, Queen of Spain fritillary, black-veined white and northern brown argus, among others.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 11, 2026

With an ageless dark brown stare, Sarah R. lifted an eyebrow.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

The research was led by Venkatakrishna Rao Jala, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and UofL's Brown Cancer Center.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 17, 2026

Sures cited research from Brown and Harvard universities that he said found test scores predict college success better than high school grades.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 17, 2026

Brown acknowledged how difficult it could be to report such offences "particularly when the perpetrator is a police officer".

From BBC ● Sep. 16, 2026

That’s roughly how much extra U.S. consumers have spent on gasoline and diesel during the Iran conflict and disruptions from the Russia-Ukraine conflict, according to estimates by the Climate Solutions Lab at Brown University.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 16, 2026

Brown hair brushed neatly to one side, eyes dark like a shark’s, a hard wedge of a naked chin, his cheeks cleanly shaven.

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros

Paramount Caviar’s kosher salmon roe adds a delicious salty, briny pop to deviled eggs, hash browns with whipped cream cheese and dill, or toast points with crème fraîche.

From Salon ● Jul. 12, 2026

Leaving the refuge, the vibrant color palette and moisture give way to muted browns and the returning austerity of desert air.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 7, 2026

"I don't mean rainbow colors, but you know, dark browns or tan colors because that tells us something about the composition, and that tells us something about the history of the Moon."

From Barron's ● Apr. 5, 2026

This year they’re going further, with McDonald’s next month offering deals such as a new $3 and less menu, which includes a McDouble or fries or hash browns, according to people familiar with the plan.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 20, 2026

I was having dinner, that evening, hamburger balls and hashed browns.

From "The Handmaid's Tale" by Margaret Atwood

People fishing in browner lakes may consider appealing to the senses of the fish that are likely to be in the water.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 21, 2026

Mamdani's retort is that he's more like a Scandinavian politician, only browner.

From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2025

Melanomas typically look darker or browner than basal cell carcinomas, Connolly said, but patients should bring any lesion they’re worried about to a dermatologist’s attention.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 24, 2024

Today, how Southern Californians will have to get used to browner lawns — and why even that might not make a dent in a historic drought.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 1, 2022

“Definitely red, but make it browner, like turmeric or cinnamon. The color red is supposed to make you hungry.”

From "A Place at the Table" by Saadia Faruqi and Laura Shovan

“I’m not going to be supportive of defunding cultural events in the brownest city in Orange County and making the public choose between celebrating our culture or giving mutual aid,” said Councilmember Johnathan Hernandez.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2025

"I'd look at certain celebrities who've got like white decor in the house, I'm like, 'who would choose white? I've gone for the brownest brown so that it hides the dirt," she said.

From BBC ● Feb. 4, 2024

Young, rich Stephen Carlton Clark had married Susan Hun, descendant of brownest, trimmest Albany ancestors.

From Time Magazine Archive

He ate the biggest, brownest and best parts of the chicken at every Sunday meal.

From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou

I hug Spot, then look into his brownest eyes.

From "Ninth Ward" by Jewell Parker Rhodes

Already this year, thousands of white spruce trees in the area around Wisley had browned leaves in early August, a sign they won’t cope with a hotter climate.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 31, 2026

Sauté onions and garlic in olive oil, add ground chicken and cook until almost browned, then pour in tomato sauce and let everything simmer.

From Salon ● May 22, 2026

Season the skirt steak with salt and black pepper, then sear in batches until deeply browned around the edges, about 2–3 minutes per side.

From Salon ● May 19, 2026

The dish, made of browned ground beef, rice and basically whatever else you have on hand, has inspired hundreds of posts since January.

From The Wall Street Journal ● May 14, 2026

A cinnamon-eyed West Indian with lightly browned skin.

From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison

Even zoomed-out satellite imagery of western France shows a striking increase in the browning of land compared to last year.

From BBC ● Aug. 15, 2026

Small meatballs cook faster, yes, but more importantly, they offer more browning surface area.

From Salon ● Mar. 23, 2026

That browning occurs when PPO reacts with oxygen after the fruit is cut or bruised.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 27, 2025

The sight of browning, fallow land where prized wine grapes were grown has become more frequent.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 11, 2025

My shadow stretched across the browning lawn as shadow Yuki trotted ahead.

From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence