pallor

[pal-er]

See more synonyms for pallor on Thesaurus.com

noun

unusual or extreme paleness, as from fear, ill health, or death; wanness.

Origin of pallor

1650–60; < Latin: paleness, equivalent to pall(ēre) to be pale + -or -or¹

Can be confusedpale pall pallor

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for pallor

whiteness, sallowness, wanness, etiolation, achromatic, cadaverousness, pastiness

Examples from the Web for pallor

Historical Examples of pallor

But the eagerness was all gone from his, and only the pallor left.
Malbone
Thomas Wentworth Higginson
The flush of his own heavy meal kept his pallor from showing.
Way of the Lawless
Max Brand
In the distance he saw a pallor, where the face of the night looked into the palace from the sea.
A Spirit in Prison
Robert Hichens
Jed's pallor was, for the moment, succeeded by a vivid crimson.
Shavings
Joseph C. Lincoln
He noted the pallor of her face, and darted me a quick, suspicion-laden glance.
Bardelys the Magnificent
Rafael Sabatini

British Dictionary definitions for pallor

pallor

noun

a pale condition, esp when unnaturalfear gave his face a deathly pallor

Word Origin for pallor

C17: from Latin: whiteness (of the skin), from pallēre to be pale 1

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

Word Origin and History for pallor

c.1400, from Old French palor "paleness, whiteness" (12c.) and directly from Latin pallor, from pallere "be pale, turn pale," related to pallus "dark-colored, dusky," from PIE root *pel- (2) "pale; gray" (cf. Sanskrit palitah "gray," panduh "whitish, pale;" Greek pelios "livid, dark," polios "gray;" Old English fealo "dull-colored, yellow, brown;" Welsh llwyd "gray").

pallor in Medicine

pallor

[păl′ər]

Paleness, as of the skin.