pallor

American  

[pal-er] / ˈpæl ər /

noun

• pallors
  plural

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

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pallor British  

/ ˈpælə /

noun

1. a pale condition, esp when unnatural

   fear gave his face a deathly pallor

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• pallors
  plural

Etymology

Origin of pallor

1650–60; < Latin: paleness, equivalent to pall ( ēre ) to be pale + -or -or ¹

Explanation

When you’ve got the flu, that pale, sickly color of your skin is called a pallor. Other causes of pallor include shock, stress, or 10 days spent indoors trying to beat your new video game. Pallor comes from the Latin word pallere, which just means to “be pale.” That’s easy enough to remember, right? Pallor, pale. Don’t make yourself sick trying to memorize it, or you might get an unhealthy pallor from the strain.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

pallor pallors

If you know anything about Burton’s movies, you know that they tend to feature characters who embody all the qualities of a sickly Victorian-era child: waifish, sunken doe-eye and gaunt faces with a deathlike pallor.

From Salon ● Sep. 15, 2024

“Remedio had the opportunity to watch and see, would the pallor disappear? Could the course reverse?”

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2024

A key problem is the lighting - a single overhead source, which gives the images a slightly garish sheen and each person's skin an unhealthy pallor.

From BBC ● Aug. 24, 2023

Here, too, the mood couldn’t have been more different from the year prior, when the slap cast a pallor on the celebration.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 13, 2023

He rather liked the severe regularity of her features and the delicate pallor of her skin.

From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie

The darkness of the groves which sheltered the course of the Kephisos contrasted strongly with the flying pallors and seemed at enmity with them.

From In the Wilderness by Robert Smythe Hichens

Wherever the coy earth veils her face With tresses of forest hair; Where polar pallors her blushes efface, Or tropical blooms lend her beauty and grace— I can flutter my plumage there!

From Caxton's Book: A Collection of Essays, Poems, Tales, and Sketches. by W. H. (William Henry) Rhodes

The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden harkenings, unstrung me; and when he dropped and broke a dish, I fairly leaped out of my seat.

From Merry Men by Robert Louis Stevenson

Halfway up the hill, which rises from the river bank, and opposite the factory's plateau, appears the white geometry of the castle, and around its pallors a tapestry of reddish foliage, and parks.

From Light by Fitzwater Wray

The sight of his scared face, his starts and pallors and sudden hearkenings, unstrung me; and when he dropped and broke a dish, I fairly leaped out of my seat.

From The Works of Robert Louis Stevenson, Volume XXI by Robert Louis Stevenson