waxen
1 Americanverb
adjective
-
made of, treated with, or covered with wax
-
resembling wax in colour or texture
verb
Etymology
Origin of waxen
before 1000; Middle English; Old English weaxen; see wax 1, -en 2
Vocabulary lists containing waxen
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.
Most significantly, Flanner reported from the trials at Nuremberg, writing that a group of Nazi prisoners “seem already waxen and posthumous, like museum figures of the members of some nefarious long-ago regime which had failed.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 19, 2026
“That’s a lie,” was his standard rejoinder, strangely accompanied by a waxen smile that flickered on and off as though set on a faulty timer.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 1, 2023
Soon after her fourth birthday, in the summer of 1930, a waxen effigy of Princess Elizabeth made its debut at Madame Tussauds, seated on a pony.
From BBC ● Feb. 5, 2022
After my mother-in-law passed away in February, her closest relatives never stopped chattering to her, setting out a glass of her favorite beer next to her coffin, applying blush to her waxen cheeks.
From New York Times ● Aug. 11, 2018
The skin felt cool and slightly waxen, numb to the touch as though it wasn’t really mine at all.
From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros
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.
