Brown

/bɹaʊn/ adj, name, noun, verb, slang

adj, name, noun, verb, slang ·Very common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.
  • Grammar: brown is listed as adj, name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: acorn, alesan, alizarin brown, anthracene brown.
  • Useful contrasts: cerulean, flaxen, green choice.
  • Usage evidence: Mr Brown took charge of this class last year.

How to use "brown"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "brown" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "brown" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "brown" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "brown" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "brown" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "acorn" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "brown", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A colour like that of chocolate or coffee. countable, uncountable

    "The browns and greens in this painting give it a nice woodsy feel."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of brown (“person with a dark complexion”). alt-of
  3. 3
    an orange of low brightness and saturation wordnet
  4. 4
    One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 4 points. countable
  5. 5
    Black tar heroin. uncountable
Show 6 more definitions
  1. 6
    A copper coin. archaic, countable, slang

    "“To save a journey up the town, / A razor lent here for a brown: / But if you think the price too high, / I beg you won’t the razor try.”"

  2. 7
    A brown horse or other animal. countable, uncountable

    "[…] browns are the soberest, bays are the worst tempered, and chestnuts are the most foolish."

  3. 8
    A person of mostly Latin American (or Latino), Middle Eastern/North African, South Asian, and sometimes Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, or rarely Native American descent; a brown-skinned person; someone of mulatto, or biracial appearance. capitalized, countable, ethnic, informal, slur, sometimes

    "Many browns and blacks are immigrants — some of whom have not yet become naturalized citizens of the United States."

  4. 9
    Any of various nymphalid butterflies of subfamily Satyrinae (formerly the family Satyridae), such as those of the genera Heteronympha and Melanitis. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    A brown trout (Salmo trutta). countable, informal, uncountable
  6. 11
    A mass of birds or animals that may be indiscriminately fired at. countable, uncountable

    "The temptation to have a shot into the brown was great. There was not a head there which was not a big one and the one by himself was not too easy a shot since it is always difficult to shoot when lying in soft snow."

Verb
  1. 1
    To become brown. intransitive

    "Fry the onions until they brown."

  2. 2
    make brown in color wordnet
  3. 3
    To cook something until it becomes brown. transitive

    "Pound an onion, warm a spoonful of ghee and throw in the onion, brown it slightly, add your curry stuff, brown this till it smells pleasantly, […]"

  4. 4
    fry in a pan until it changes color wordnet
  5. 5
    To tan. intransitive, transitive

    "Light-skinned people tend to brown when exposed to the sun."

Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    To make brown or dusky. transitive

    "A trembling twilight o'er the welkin moves, / Browns the dim void and darkens deep the groves."

  2. 7
    To give a bright brown colour to, as to gun barrels, by forming a thin coating of oxide on their surface. transitive

    "It is mixed uniformly with olive oil, and rubbed upon the iron slightly heated, which is afterwards exposed to the air, till the wished-for degree of browning is produced."

  3. 8
    To turn progressively more Hispanic or Latino, in the context of the population of a geographic region. derogatory, ethnic, intransitive, offensive, slang, slur, transitive, usually

    "the browning of America"

Adjective
  1. 1
    Having a brown colour.

    "But none of those brown dwarfs were speeding along on a trajectory that would carry them out of the galaxy like “runaway” hypervelocity stars observed by astronomers in the last two decades."

  2. 2
    Alternative letter-case form of brown (“of a dark complexion”). Canada, UK, US, alt-of, often
  3. 3
    Gloomy. obsolete
  4. 4
    Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.; Latino/Latin American US, capitalized, sometimes

    "Reminds me of the time they asked me and a group of other Latino, predominantly Mexican, friends for our passports when we tried to go to their [expletive] party a little over a year ago.[…] The saddest part is that I don’t think they understand why it’s insulting to ask a brown person for a passport."

  5. 5
    Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.; of color. US, broadly, capitalized, sometimes
Show 3 more definitions
  1. 6
    Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.; South Asian or sometimes Middle Eastern or North African capitalized, sometimes

    "I think they sort of realized like, oh, we have Aasif who is a Muslim, an American, brown person, you know, who can sit on that fence between cultures and sort of talk about what it is--what this is from the perspective of being an insider and an outsider at the same time.[…] I think there is in the sort of South Asian, you know, psyche, a kind of adoration of Western ideals and culture that was sort of implanted into us by the British, you know, and this idea that everything that is Western is superior and better than what we have and what India--you know, what is true to our own culture."

  2. 7
    Of or relating to any of various ethnic groups having dark pigmentation of the skin.; Southeast Asian, Pacific Islander, or sometimes Native American capitalized, sometimes

    "I came to deeply embrace anti-racism in slow, sustained increments. To do so, I had to embrace my own identity as a Brown person -- and understand my own complicity in white supremacy.[…] I had grown up in an entire Southeast Asian culture that had largely been groomed, indoctrinated and brainwashed into white-centered thinking over some 450 years of colonization by our Western overlords: Spain for almost 400 years, and then the United States of America for nearly 50 years more."

  3. 8
    Not green (environmentally irresponsible); anti-green (against environmental protection).

    "Near-synonyms: nongreen, antigreen"

Adjective
  1. 1
    (of skin) deeply suntanned wordnet
  2. 2
    of a color similar to that of wood or earth wordnet
Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable

    "(The Browns gave the Obamas an ornate penholder made from the timber of a Victorian antislave ship.)"

  2. 2
    A surname.; An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname. countable, uncountable
  3. 3
    A surname.; An Irish surname of Anglo-Norman origin, a translation of de Brún. countable, uncountable
  4. 4
    A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in California; named for hotelier George Brown. countable, uncountable
  5. 5
    A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in Louisiana; named for landowner George W. Brown. countable, uncountable
Show 5 more definitions
  1. 6
    A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in Oklahoma; named for postmaster Robert H. Brown. countable, uncountable
  2. 7
    A locale in the United States.; An unincorporated community in West Virginia; named for early settler John Brown. countable, uncountable
  3. 8
    A locale in the United States.; A ghost town in Nevada. countable, uncountable
  4. 9
    A locale in the United States.; A number of townships in the United States, listed under Brown Township. countable, uncountable
  5. 10
    Brown University. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
acornalesanalizarin brownanthracene brownanthragallolantique brown

Antonyms

ceruleanflaxengreen choicegreen plants

Example

"Mr Brown took charge of this class last year."

Common questions

What does "brown" mean?

A colour like that of chocolate or coffee.

What is a synonym for "brown"?

Common synonyms include: acorn, alesan, alizarin brown, anthracene brown, anthragallol, antique brown.

How do you use "brown" in a sentence?

Mr Brown took charge of this class last year.

How do you pronounce "brown"?

Pronounced /bɹaʊn/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

From Middle English broun, from Old English brūn (“brown; dark; dusky”), from Proto-West Germanic *brūn, from Proto-Germanic *brūnaz, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰerH-. Doublet of bruin. Cognates * Dutch bruin * German braun * Ancient Greek φρύνη (phrúnē), φρῦνος (phrûnos, “toad”) * Latin brunneus (“brown”) * Lithuanian bė́ras (“brown”) * Sanskrit बभ्रु (babhrú, “reddish-brown”) * West Frisian brún

Etymology 2

From Middle English Broun, originally a nickname for someone with brown hair or a dark complexion. In the United States, sometimes an anglicization and translation of German Braun. Doublet of Bruno and Braun.

More for "brown"

Synonyms

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