fuscous

[ fuhs-kuhs ]

/ ˈfʌs kəs /

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adjective

of brownish-gray or dusky color.

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Origin of fuscous

1655–65; <Latin fusc(us) dark, tawny, dusky + -ous

Words nearby fuscous

furze, fusain, Fusan, fusarium, fusarium wilt, fuscous, fuse, fuse box, fused quartz, fusee, fuselage

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use fuscous in a sentence

The root-stock is very short, but creeping: it bears a few dark-fuscous scales, and is covered with the remains of decayed stalks.
Beautiful Ferns|Daniel Cady Eaton
Head and neck fuscous brown margined with white, rest of underparts fuscous brown; back with greenish reflections.
Color Key to North American Birds|Frank M. Chapman
Primaries fuscous-black, the outer ones margined with white and the inner ones white at the base.
Descriptions of Three New Birds from the Belgian Congo|James Chapin
Upper wing-coverts and secondaries fuscous-black (freshly molted feathers blacker) narrowly edged with olive-ocher.
Descriptions of Three New Birds from the Belgian Congo|James Chapin

Female in summer: Similar, but upperparts streaked all over with black, and the black wings largely replaced by fuscous.
The Birds of Washington (Volume 1 of 2)|William Leon Dawson

British Dictionary definitions for fuscous

fuscous

/ (ˈfʌskəs) /

adjective

of a brownish-grey colour

Word Origin for fuscous

C17: from Latin fuscus dark, swarthy, tawny

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012