Albescent
adj ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Becoming white or whitish; moderately white.
"This proceedeth from the variety of air (commonly found in islands) which sometimes being moist, sullies and renders the cornelian pale or albescent, after the manner of glass, which when breath'd upon, is clouded with a pale whitish colour, but upon change to a drier air, which will often happen in a moment, the cornelian recovers its former brisk red colour."
- 1 becoming or shading into white wordnet
Example
More examples"This proceedeth from the variety of air (commonly found in islands) which sometimes being moist, sullies and renders the cornelian pale or albescent, after the manner of glass, which when breath'd upon, is clouded with a pale whitish colour, but upon change to a drier air, which will often happen in a moment, the cornelian recovers its former brisk red colour."
Etymology
18th century. From Latin albescens, present participle of albescere (“to grow white”), from albus (“white”)
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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.