Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Complexion
1.
The state of being complex; complexity.
[Obs.]
Though the terms of propositions may be complex, yet . . . it is properly called a simple syllogism, since the
complexion
does not belong to the syllogistic form of it. I. Watts.
2.
A combination; a complex.
[Archaic]
This paragraph is . . . a
complexion
of sophisms. Coleridge.
3.
The bodily constitution; the temperament; habitude, or natural disposition; character; nature.
[Obs.]
If his
complexion
incline him to melancholy. Milton.
It is the
complexion
of them all to leave the dam. Shakespeare
4.
The color or hue of the skin, esp. of the face.
Tall was her stature, her
complexion
dark. Wordsworth.
Between the pale
And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain.
complexion
of true love,And the red glow of scorn and proud disdain.
Shakespeare
5.
The general appearance or aspect;
as, the
. complexion
of the sky; the complexion
of the newsWebster 1828 Edition
Complexion
COMPLEXION
, n.1.
Involution; a complex state.2.
The color of the skin, particularly of the face; the color of the external parts of a body or thing; as a fair complexion; a dark complexion; the complexion of the sky.3.
The temperament, habitude, or natural disposition of the body; the peculiar cast of the constitution, which gives it a particular physical character; a medical term, but used to denote character, or description; as, men of this or that complexion.Tis ill, Though different your complexions are,
The family of heaven for men should war.
Definition 2024
complexion
complexion
See also: complexión and complex ion
English
Alternative forms
- complection (obsolete)
Noun
complexion (plural complexions)
- (obsolete, medicine) The combination of humours making up one's physiological "temperament", being either hot or cold, and moist or dry.
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.10:
- Ne ever is he wont on ought to feed / But todes and frogs, his pasture poysonous, / Which in his cold complexion doe breed / A filthy blood […].
- 1590, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, III.10:
- The quality, colour, or appearance of the skin on the face.
- a rugged complexion; a sunburnt complexion
- 1915, Emerson Hough, The Purchase Price, chapterI:
- This new-comer was a man who in any company would have seemed striking. In complexion fair, and with blue or gray eyes, he was tall as any Viking, as broad in the shoulder.
- (figuratively) The outward appearance of something.
- Outlook, attitude, or point of view.
- 1844, E. A. Poe, Marginalia
- But the purely marginal jottings, done with no eye to the Memorandum Book, have a distinct complexion, and not only a distinct purpose, but none at all; this it is which imparts to them a value.
- 1844, E. A. Poe, Marginalia
Synonyms
- See also Wikisaurus:countenance
Related terms
Translations
appearance of the skin on the face
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External links
- complexion in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913
- complexion in The Century Dictionary, The Century Co., New York, 1911
Old French
Etymology
First known attestation circa 1120[1], borrowing from Latin complexiō.
Noun
complexion f (oblique plural complexions, nominative singular complexion, nominative plural complexions)
- (medicine) complexion (combination of humours making up one's physiological "temperament")
References
- ↑ “complexion” in le Trésor de la langue française informatisé (The Digitized Treasury of the French Language).
- (fr) Godefroy, Frédéric, Dictionnaire de l'ancienne langue française et de tous ses dialectes du IXe au XVe siècle (1881) (complession, supplement)