brunette
Americanadjective
-
(of hair, eyes, skin, etc.) of a dark color or tone.
-
(of a person) having dark hair and, often, dark eyes and darkish or olive skin.
noun
-
brunettes
plural
noun
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of brunette
1705–15; < French; feminine of brunet
Vocabulary lists containing brunette
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.
See Examples For:
"I am returning to the big ice," the skater from Kazan announced on Telegram earlier this month, her formerly brunette hair now streaked with blonde highlights.
From Barron's ● Jan. 30, 2026
“People think I’m on drugs because of my appearance,” says Joe H., a lanky, long-haired brunette holding an electric guitar on his lap.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 26, 2025
"Visconti wanted me brunette with long hair. Fellini wanted me blonde," Cardinale said.
From BBC ● Sep. 23, 2025
He met his wife, Mary Lou, in 1956, brunette and pretty, wearing bobby socks at a fraternity mixer at Michigan State.
From Salon ● Nov. 14, 2024
Sometimes Mary was brunette and brown-eyed, other times blond and blue-eyed, but gorgeous every time.
From "The Secret Life of Bees" by Sue Monk Kidd
This ongoing trend of obsessing over everything fall has to offer was first made popular by a viral photo of two brunettes with matching hairdos, makeup and suede booties.
From Salon ● Oct. 7, 2023
She now plays a somewhat wider range of characters — shrewd blondes, guileless brunettes — and she struggles less.
From New York Times ● May 10, 2023
“So far we’ve been able to find it for brunettes but we can’t get there for blondes and that’s the only chemical that I use. So we’re working on it.”
From Fox News ● Aug. 9, 2019
His penchant for brunettes - Ava Gardner, Jane Russell, Yvonne De Carlo, Linda Darnell, Faith Domergue and Jean Peters, among others - could have stymied a witness at a police lineup.
From Washington Times ● Dec. 4, 2018
"And she knew I preferred brunettes," Auguste adds.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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.
