cinereous
Americanadjective
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in the state of or reduced to ashes.
cinereous bodies.
-
resembling ashes.
-
ashen; ash-colored; grayish.
a cinereous bird.
adjective
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of a greyish colour
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resembling or consisting of ashes
Etymology
Origin of cinereous
1655–65; < Latin cinereus, equivalent to ciner- (stem of cinis ) ashes + -eus -eous
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.
They examined the cinereous vulture, a “ripper,” and the Andean condor, a “gulper,” as well as several eagles that hunted prey of various sizes.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2021
Africa has already lost one of its eleven vulture species—the cinereous vulture—and now seven others are listed as either critically endangered or endangered.
From National Geographic ● Nov. 22, 2017
The chicks’ shockingly orange appearance is all the more striking since adult cinereous mourners are a dialed-back dull gray.
From Newsweek ● Feb. 25, 2015
There are understory flocks led by Thamnomanes antshrikes — here cinereous and dusky-throated antshrikes.
From New York Times ● Oct. 27, 2010
Now the night wind stirs it, and now a sudden breeze carries the cinereous corpse away, fluttering it to dust impalpable.”
From John Leech, His Life and Work. Vol. 1 by William Powell Frith
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.
