reddish
Americanadjective
adjective
Usage
What does reddish mean? Reddish describes something that is somewhat red or tinted red, as in After washing my shirt hundreds of times, it’s gone from red to merely reddish.The color red is a primary color at one end of the visible spectrum and is the color of human blood. Something that is reddish is not fully red.Example: The sky turned a reddish color as the moon began obscuring the sun.
Other Word Forms
- reddishly adverb
- reddishness noun
Etymology
Origin of reddish
First recorded in 1350–1400, reddish is from the Middle English word redische. See red 1, -ish 1
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.
The tree, rendered in a rich reddish brown, appears almost upside down—the trunk descending from the upper left corner.
“Excuse me. I didn’t mean to startle you. I was noticing your hair. It has reddish highlights when the sun hits it.”
From Literature
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Blood stained the white limestone rocks, blending in with the West Bank's distinctive reddish soil.
From Barron's
Known for their reddish coat and white-tipped bushy tail, they are found across Europe, Asia, North America, and parts of Africa.
From BBC
His hair is darker than it used to be—more reddish brown than strawberry blond—but everything else is so familiar.
From Literature
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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.