complexion

I

(New American Roget's College Thesaurus)

n. hue, color, tinge, tint; skin texture; aspect, appearance.

II

(Roget's IV) n.

1. [Appearance]

Syn. aspect, semblance, character; see appearance 1 , 2 , character 1 .

2. [Skin coloring]

Syn. tone, color, coloration, coloring, tinge, cast, glow, flush, skin texture, tint, hue, pigmentation; see also skin .

Descriptions of complexions include: blond, fair, pale, pallid, ashen, waxen, white, sallow, sickly, dark, olive, bronze, sandy, rosy, red, ruddy, florid, brown, yellow, black, blue-black, Negroid, CaucAsian, Nordic, Aryan, Melanesian, Malaysian, mulatto, Oriental, Semitic, AmerIndian, tan, tanned, sun-tanned, yellowish-brown, pinkish, sanguine, redheaded; peroxide blond*, drugstore blond*, strawberry and cream*, peaches and cream*.

III

(Roget's 3 Superthesaurus) n.

1. skin coloring tone, cast, hue, tinge, tint, pigmentation.

WORD FIND

• aged: leathery, lined like an old boot, parchmentlike, like scalded milk, liver-spotted, age-spotted, cadaverous, gaunt, craggy, furrowed, mottled, withered, pendulous, rosaceous, moled, weatherbeaten, raw-boned

• brown/black: ebony, pitch, brown as the Congo/Mississippi/Rio Grande, honey, golden brown, leathery, lentil, mahogany, dark as a mill pond, molasses, russet, mottled, nutbrown, obsidian, olive, raven, raisin, tawny, tarnished penny, weathered acorn, tanned

• healthy: peaches and cream, apple-cheeked, scrubbed, rosy, glowing, ruddy, pink, blushing

• pink/red: scarlet, crimson, burned, rosy, lobster

• sickly: cadaverous, leaden, ashen, ghastly, pale, pallid, wan, blanched, pasty, chalky, jaundiced, sallow, flushed, clammy

• white: alabaster, lily-white, ivory, milky, creamy, beige, fair

2. character aspect, appearance, quality, look, bearing, cast.

IV

(Roget's Thesaurus II) noun 1. Skin tone, especially of the face: color, coloring. See COLORS. 2. The combination of emotional, intellectual, and moral qualities that distinguishes an individual: character, disposition, makeup, nature, personality. See BE. 3. A person's customary manner of emotional response: disposition, humor, nature, temper, temperament. See BE.