maroon Hear it!

maroon1 definition

ma·roon (mə ro̵̅o̅n′)

noun, adjective

dark brownish red

Etymology: Fr marron, chestnut, chestnut color < It marrone

maroon2 definition

ma·roon (mə ro̵̅o̅n′)

noun

  1. in the West Indies and Suriname,
    1. Historical a fugitive black slave
    2. a descendant of such slaves
  2. Rare a marooned person

Etymology: Fr marron < AmSp cimarrón, wild, unruly < OSp cimarra, thicket

transitive verb

  1. to put (a person) ashore in some desolate place, as a desert island, and abandon that person there, as pirates or mutineers sometimes did
  2. to leave abandoned, isolated, or helpless

intransitive verb

☆ Obsolete in the South, to camp out or picnic for several days

Webster's New World College Dictionary Copyright © 2005 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

maroon Synonyms

maroon

v.

desert, isolate, forsake; see abandon 2.


Webster's New World Roget's A-Z Thesaurus Copyright © 1999 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Cleveland, Ohio.
Used by arrangement with John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

maroon Usage Examples

Object

  • man: He meets an old man marooned by the traffic.

Preposition: on

  • island: Actually, being marooned on an island with only that book to read is kind of my dream in life.

Modifying Another Word

  • now: But in Lesotho, a kilowatt of electricity and additional hot water could transform lives now marooned by poverty, team members said.

Preposition: in

  • middle: Here was an ' island race ' marooned in the middle of the Atlantic, who could not swim.
  • color: The outer part of the pod is almost maroon in color.
maroon usage examples (more)

The word usage examples above have been gathered from various sources to reflect current and historical usage. They do not represent the opinions of YourDictionary.com.

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MLA Style

"maroon." Webster's New World College Dictionary. 2009

  • Your Dictionary. 4 July 2009
  • <www.yourdictionary.com/maroon>

APA Style

maroon. (2009). In Webster's New World College Dictionary

  • Retrieved July 4th, 2009, from www.yourdictionary.com/maroon

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