Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com
Showing results for "marcel"
Jump To:
  • marcel
    marcel
    verb (used with object)
    to wave (the hair) by means of special irons, producing the effect of regular, continuous waves marcel waves.
  • Marcel
    Marcel
    noun
    Gabriel 1887–1973, French philosopher, dramatist, and critic.
SEE ALSO:
Fictional Characters dictionary results for Marcel.
Search instead for morcel.

marcel

1 American  
[mahr-sel] / mɑrˈsɛl /

verb (used with object)

marcelled, marcelling
  1. to wave (the hair) by means of special irons, producing the effect of regular, continuous waves marcel waves.


noun

  1. a marcelling.

  2. a marcelled condition.

Marcel 2 American  
[mahr-sel, mar-sel] / mɑrˈsɛl, marˈsɛl /

noun

  1. Gabriel 1887–1973, French philosopher, dramatist, and critic.

  2. a male given name.


marcel 1 British  
/ mɑːˈsɛl /

noun

  1. Also called: marcel wave. a hairstyle characterized by repeated regular waves, popular in the 1920s

"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

verb

  1. (tr) to make such waves in (the hair) with special hot irons

"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
Marcel 2 British  
/ marsɛl /

noun

  1. Gabriel ( Honoré ) (ɡabriɛl). 1889–1973, French Christian existentialist philosopher and dramatist, whose philosophical works include Being and Having (1949) and The Mystery of Being (1951)

"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

Other Word Forms


Etymology

Origin of marcel

First recorded in 1890–95; named after Marcel Grateau (1852–1936), French hairdresser who originated it


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:

The Harlem in “The Back Room” is a site for “fine gowns and tuxedos, marcel waves and glitter.”

From Washington Times ● Jan. 15, 2020

My aunties would come to town from Chicago and get the marcel iron out,” she said.

From New York Times ● Sep. 14, 2018

Lily, his wife, unwilling to muss her new marcel wave before he saw it, waited, and kept ready a hot cup of tea.

From Time Magazine Archive

He is 21, stands up to the plate in perfect style; his hair falls away from his forehead in a natural marcel.

From Time Magazine Archive

I'd a let her had it, all right, all right, the outside of the bottle right on the marcel.

From The Sorrows of a Show Girl by Kenneth McGaffey

Pidcock finished second at the one-day race in Varese but was left "mad" after Pinarello-Q36.5 team-mates Marcel Camprubi and Thomas Gloag were knocked off their bikes with six laps of the finishing circuit to go.

From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026

"We expect inflation excluding fresh food and energy to rise further towards 2.5 percent by early next year," said Marcel Thieliant of Capital Economics.

From Barron's ● Sep. 16, 2026

“The details were a mixed bag,” says Marcel Thieliant, head of Asia-Pacific at Capital Economics, in commentary.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026

The taste of a madeleine famously sent French writer Marcel Proust back into vivid memories of childhood.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 29, 2026

“But, Em, how did David Marcel get the picture in the first place?”

From "Goodbye Stranger" by Rebecca Stead

Ms. Jackson, in a lilac dressing gown and a marcelled silver wig, digs deep into that contradiction, producing huge laughs from the grim idea that awfulness is a damn good habit as death hovers.

From New York Times ● Mar. 29, 2018

Her previously loose and tawny hair is now marcelled and peroxide blond; her glittering but shapeless black gown projects the expensive glamour of a society matron.

From The New Yorker ● Apr. 14, 2017

By now Ms. Huppert has re-emerged looking rather more demure, playing Phaedra in a marcelled red wig and pale skirt and dainty shirt with a bow collar.

From New York Times ● Sep. 15, 2016

His mustache shorn, his hair slickly marcelled, Billy Dee sits before a dummy piano, miming perfect syncopation to Joplin's ragtime.

From Time Magazine Archive

She had a thick, straight-up, corseted figure and gray hair that had been marcelled into such stiff, even waves I wondered if she dared put her head down on a pillow at night.

From "Homesick" by Jean Fritz

Last week Jonah Uden was pronounced capable of waving, marcelling, bobbing, shingling and shampooing.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like women sitting for two hours under the marcelling irons only to wonder two days later how soon they would need another appointment.

From "Sula" by Toni Morrison

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Join 14,000,000 vocabulary learners

Start learning new words today on VocabTrainer.
You'll remember them forever.

Start training