suntan

[suhn-tan]

noun

1. a browning or a brown color of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or a sunlamp; tan.

2. Also called mayfair tan, merida. a light to medium yellow-brown.

3. Also called pastel orange. a medium orange color.

verb (used with or without object)

suntanned, suntanning 

1. tan.

suntan

/ ˈsʌnˌtæn /

noun

1. 1. Often shortened to: tan. a brownish colouring of the skin caused by the formation of the pigment melanin within the skin on exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun or a sunlamp

   2. ( as modifier )

      suntan oil

Other Word Forms

• suntanned adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of suntan¹

First recorded in 1900–05; sun + tan ¹

Example Sentences

Especially now, she might have added, after surviving his manly shipboard adventure: He was suntanned and lean muscled, and hummed sea chanteys under his breath in the moonlight....

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She says the current trend to create tan lines by burning in the sun, coupled with false claims that suntan lotion is responsible for the very cancer it's trying to prevent is a "perfect storm".

Read more on BBC

Marker, who also surfs, plays guitar and rides motorcycles, is 63 going on 16, with silver hair and a skate-park suntan.

Read more on Los Angeles Times

Her silver hoop earrings glowed against her suntanned cheeks.

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NOV 2008: Berlusconi hails Barack Obama as "handsome, young and also suntanned", after he was elected the United States' first Black president.

Read more on Reuters

Related Words

• beige 
• brownish www.thesaurus.com
• drab 
• khaki