ochre
Americannoun
noun
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any of various natural earths containing ferric oxide, silica, and alumina: used as yellow or red pigments
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a moderate yellow-orange to orange colour
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( as adjective )
an ochre dress
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verb
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of ochre
C15: from Old French ocre, from Latin ōchra, from Greek ōkhra, from ōkhros pale yellow
Vocabulary lists containing ochre
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:
Colchado and her family are preparing to host about 30 people in their large, one-story house with ochre walls.
From Barron's ● Nov. 3, 2026
The rock art which the Lost Land Bridge Project has uncovered includes engravings on the cave walls, paintings in ochre and charcoal and line sketches indented into clay and earth by fingertips.
From BBC ● Sep. 4, 2026
One striking feature of the cave is the widespread use of mineral pigments, especially ochre.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 12, 2026
Throughout his career, Lowry favored mostly five colors: ochre, blue, black, white and red.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2025
Around them, the trees had started to turn, ochre and orange, scarlet red.
From "A Thousand Splendid Suns" by Khaled Hosseini
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He saw a small, brick- paved yard, in which trim myrtles and flowering plants stood about in freshly ochred pots, and, opening the door a little wider, he slipped in and closed it behind him.
From Sentence Deferred Sailor's Knots, Part 4. by Will Owen
Among other things which lay strewed about here, were a spearshaft, eight feet in length, recently made and ochred; parts of old canoes, fragments of their skin-dresses, &c.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 14, No. 387, August 28, 1829 by Various
He saw a small, brick-paved yard, in which trim myrtles and flowering plants stood about in freshly ochred pots, and, opening the door a little wider, he slipped in and closed it behind him.
From Sailor's Knots (Entire Collection) by W. W. (William Wymark) Jacobs
Among other things which lay strewed about here, were a spear-shaft, eight feet in length, recently made and ochred; parts of old canoes, fragments of their skin-dresses, &c.
From Report of Mr. W. E. Cormack's journey in search of the Red Indians in Newfoundland by W. E. (William Epps) Cormack
The smoke swirled and eddied out into the room and hung about the ochred walls, and made more umber than it was before the map of Europe over the fireplace.
From Gilian The Dreamer His Fancy, His Love and Adventure by Neil Munro
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