a pale yellow, sometimes reddish or brownish, fossil resin of vegetable origin, translucent, brittle, and capable of gaining a negative electrical charge by friction and of being an excellent insulator: used for making jewelry and other ornamental articles.
the yellowish-brown color of resin.
of the color of amber; yellowish-brown.
amber fields of grain.
made of amber.
amber earrings.
a yellow or yellowish-brown hard translucent fossil resin derived from extinct coniferous trees that occurs in Tertiary deposits and often contains trapped insects. It is used for jewellery, ornaments, etc
( as modifier )
an amber necklace
a strange relic or reminder of the past
a medium to dark brownish-yellow colour, often somewhat orange, similar to that of the resin
( as adjective )
an amber dress
an amber traffic light used as a warning between red and green
Certain trees, especially conifers, produce a sticky substance called resin to protect themselves against insects. Normally, it decays in oxygen through the action of bacteria. However, if the resin happens to fall into wet mud or sand containing little oxygen, it can harden and eventually fossilize, becoming the yellowish, translucent substance known as amber. If any insects or other organisms are trapped in the resin before it hardens, they can be preserved, often in exquisite detail. By studying these preserved organisms, scientists are able learn key facts about life on Earth millions of years ago.
1350–1400; Middle English ambre < Old French < Medieval Latin ambra < Arabic ʿanbar ambergris; confusion of the dissimilar substances perhaps because both were rare, valuable, and found on seacoasts
Amber is a brownish yellow color. Many cats have green eyes but those with amber eyes are likely to have yellow or white fur. Amber is also a translucent golden or honeyed-yellow colored gemstone, often used to make jewelry. That's where the color amber gets its name. Amber comes from the ocean floor — most of it is harvested from the Baltic Sea off the coast of Russia. The most likely origin of amber is the Latin word for "bitter," amarus, as the color yellow was often associated with bitterness and envy.
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Its red-white-and-blue website shows the Statue of Liberty and a person wearing a cowboy hat striding with a partner through amber waves of grain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
The UK's Health Security Agency has also issued amber heat health alerts, which cover the whole of England.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The amber alerts will be in place until Friday evening to cover high and even extreme temperatures expected through this week.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
It has put in place an amber health warning for four regions, including London, warning of increased risk to those over 65 years old or with pre-existing health conditions.
From Barron's ● Aug. 3, 2026
She tilts her head, considers me with her amber eyes.
From "Wayward Creatures" by Dayna Lorentz
Among the 21 newlyweds that year were Amber Carroll Tyrell and Josh Mayer, who had been looking at a wedding costing upward of $50,000 when they saw the $350 price tag at Outside Lands.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Amber heat-health alerts issued by the UK Health Security Agency remain in force across all of England until 21:00 BST, warning of ongoing significant impacts across health and social care services.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
Amber alerts are in place for all regions of England, aside from the North East, which has been given a less intense yellow alert for the same period.
From BBC ● Aug. 11, 2026
The production reunites the original Broadway cast — André De Shields, Patrick Page, Reeve Carney, Eva Noblezada and Amber Gray — six years after the show debuted and swept the Tonys in 2019.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
I try to smile at Amber, and get her to let it go.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
I would swim early in the morning when the water was still or late at night as the sun set, casting stunning ambers and pinks streaks through the sky.
From BBC ● Mar. 9, 2025
The sunrise ambers and midnight blues of Joshua Cutts’s lighting design illuminate Michael’s states of mind as much as they do time and place.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2023
The set design by Clint Ramos and Miguel Urbino emphasizes depth of field, its white framework a receptive canvas for Linda Cho’s refined midcentury costumes and the warm ambers of David Weiner’s lighting.
From New York Times ● Jun. 22, 2023
They have always seemed to contain this suggestion for me: flowers that seemed to be much more the embodiment of jades, rubies, emeralds, and ambers, than just flowers from the common garden.
From Adventures in the Arts Informal Chapters on Painters, Vaudeville, and Poets by Marsden Hartley
By and by the moon rose out of the pearl-greys and ambers in the east, bevies of black rooks flew homeward, and stillness settled over the face of the brown lake.
From Penelope's Irish Experiences by Kate Douglas Smith Wiggin
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.
