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brown belt

American  

noun

Martial Arts.
  1. a brown cloth waistband conferred upon a participant in one of the martial arts, as judo or karate, to indicate an intermediate rank.

  2. a person who has attained this rank.

  3. the rank itself.


Etymology

Origin of brown belt

First recorded in 1965–70

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.

Sy earned a brown belt in karate, and Cardoza, who does indeed do the crane kick, was a competitive figure skater for 15 years.

From New York Times • Jun. 1, 2022

Born and raised on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, she has degrees in law and theoretical physics, a pilot’s license, and a brown belt from an elite judo institute in Japan.

From Slate • Nov. 23, 2020

A black belt in judo and brown belt in Brazilian jiu jitsu, the 27-year-old former amateur European and world champion in MMA quickly got over the excitement of being elevated to the main event.

From Reuters • Feb. 21, 2020

The self-improvement obsessive earned a brown belt in karate, dabbled in Slovak and wrote screenplays before he committed fully to politics.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 17, 2020

He was a brown belt, or as he put it, a “junior black belt.”

From "As Brave As You" by Jason Reynolds