rufous
Americanadjective
adjective
Etymology
Origin of rufous
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Two black and rufous sengi, known as elephant shrews, have been born for the first time in the UK.
From BBC ● Mar. 14, 2026
There are two variants of female cuckoos: a gray morph that looks like a sparrowhawk, and a rufous morph.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2024
In January I wrote about an unlikely visitor to Green Spring Gardens in Fairfax County: a rufous hummingbird.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 29, 2021
Although social media chatter about hummingbirds in Mississippi has died down since the majority of ruby-throats have made their way to Central America, rufous hummingbirds are still coming.
From Washington Times ● Nov. 14, 2020
The face that turned towards me, reddened and era-tered by firelight and shadow, was as flat and cruel as the moon, Winter’s dull rufous moon.
From "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula K. Le Guin
![]()
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.