maroon
1 Americanadjective
-
dark brownish-red.
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Chiefly British.
-
a loudly exploding firework consisting of a cardboard container filled with gunpowder.
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a similar firework used as a danger or warning signal, as by railway brakemen.
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verb (used with object)
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maroons,
present (3rd person singular)
-
marooned,
past participle, past
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marooning
present participle
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to put ashore and abandon on a desolate island or coast by way of punishment or the like, as was done by buccaneers.
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to place in an isolated and often dangerous position.
The rising floodwaters marooned us on top of the house.
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to abandon and leave without aid or resources.
Having lost all his money, he was marooned in the strange city.
noun
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maroons
plural
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(often initial capital letter) any of a group of Black people, descended from fugitive slaves of the 17th and 18th centuries, living in the West Indies and Guiana, especially in mountainous areas.
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a person who is marooned.
Robinson Crusoe lived for years as a maroon.
verb
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to leave ashore and abandon, esp on an island
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to isolate without resources
noun
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a descendant of a group of runaway slaves living in the remoter areas of the Caribbean or Guyana
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informal a person who has been marooned, esp on an island
noun
-
-
a dark red to purplish-red colour
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( as adjective )
a maroon carpet
-
-
an exploding firework, esp one used as a warning signal
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
maroonsimple
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maroonssimple
-
have maroonedperfect
-
has maroonedperfect
-
am marooningprogressive
-
are marooningprogressive
-
is marooningprogressive
-
have been marooningperfect progressive
-
has been marooningperfect progressive
Past
-
maroonedsimple
-
had maroonedperfect
-
was marooningprogressive
-
were marooningprogressive
-
had been marooningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of maroon1
First recorded in 1585–95; from French marron literally, “chestnut (nut and color), firecracker,” Middle French, from Italian marrone “chestnut, brown”; further origin unknown
Origin of maroon2
First recorded in 1660–70; from French mar(r)on, apparently from Colonial Spanish cimarrón “wild”; first used in reference to domestic animals that escaped into the woods, later to people who escaped slavery; see cimarron
Explanation
To maroon is to strand someone in an isolated place, often a deserted island. Think of "Gilligan's Island," "Survivor," or "Lost" — TV shows that feature folks marooned on islands — and you've got the idea. Maroon can be a noun or verb, depending on how you use it. If you maroon your best friend on a deserted island, in addition to being a terrible friend, you're using the word as a verb. If this friend was wearing a brownish-red shirt at the time he was marooned, you would use the adjective maroon to describe the shirt's color.
Vocabulary lists containing maroon
Words Every Pirate Should Know
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The House on Mango Street
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Red
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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:
But Jane, who enters her office to an oil painting of her father, smiling kindly in a maroon armchair, is confident that Sol would have wanted his holdings intact for generations to come.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 5, 2026
The 23 senators present donned maroon velvet robes Monday and swore to "do impartial justice according to the constitution and the laws of the Philippines" at the trial.
From Barron's ● May 18, 2026
The last man to break the Old Firm duopoly has been seen in a maroon tie at Tynecastle and is in regular contact with the Hearts boss.
From BBC ● May 15, 2026
One by one, the maroon waves started washing towards the away end at Easter Road.
From BBC ● Apr. 26, 2026
A woman in maroon scrubs peeks out into the lobby.
From "I Can Make This Promise" by Christine Day
That maroons 100 chatty senators - including four Democrats in the heat of a nomination fight - for the serious constitutional business of the impeachment trial, for hours at a time.
From Washington Times ● Jan. 21, 2020
The sinking of a yacht maroons a wealthy businessman and his beautiful wife on an island with a former servant.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 26, 2019
Then stripes in yellows and greens and whites and maroons began to emerge as sunlight bathed the landscape.
From New York Times ● Nov. 27, 2018
Maybe it’s the generic newness of the place, which was built a little over five years ago — all browns and maroons and sea foam green.
From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2018
The descendants of maroons who evaded the British still live in Jamaica to this day.
From "Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science" by Marc Aronson
"I survived as I was in the tunnel," said Tamang, who was airlifted on Thursday after being marooned for more than 24 hours.
From Barron's ● Aug. 28, 2026
In short: Wilson snuck a 2,700-year-old poem through the gates of mainstream taste — and after that victory, her arrogance left her marooned.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026
Alexander Selkirk was marooned on an uninhabited island in 1704.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 23, 2026
His universally acclaimed “Summer of Soul” dropped in June 2021, offering deep refreshment to thirsty concertgoers marooned in a barren season for live music.
From Salon ● Jun. 7, 2026
Nothing could have been more pitiful and hopeless than the twenty-eight men marooned on the rotting ice pack nearly 200 miles from the nearest solid land.
From "Shipwreck at the Bottom of the World" by Jennifer Armstrong
Fifteenth-century sailors shared stories of ships that had become ensnared in the algae, marooning their crews at sea.
From Slate ● Jul. 16, 2023
This time a van's clutch has stopped working, marooning them in the central reservation of the busy motorway.
From BBC ● May 1, 2023
The lack of open nursing home beds is marooning some patients in hospitals for weeks while social workers seek placements.
From Salon ● Jan. 27, 2023
Debris flows and swollen creeks blocked roads and highways, marooning hundreds of people for hours and, in some cases, days.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 14, 2023
Maybe it's our remarks about Crusoe, buccaneers, marooning, and walking the plank that worked on my mind and set me to thinking about outlaws.
From The Radio Boys in the Thousand Islands by J. W. Duffield
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.
