as in pallid
lacking a healthy skin color
still looking ashen from his bout with the flu
Synonyms & Similar Words
Relevance
Antonyms & Near Antonyms
Example Sentences
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to
show current usage.
Read More
Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors.
Send us feedback.
Recent Examples of ashen
Patches of skin that appear red, white, blue, gray, yellow, purple, brown or ashen as opposed to their normal color.
—
John Tufts, IndyStar, 13 Jan. 2025
His skin, particularly his face, had an ashen appearance.
—Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2025
Metal railings or a charred brick chimney were all that remained to distinguish the ashen piles.
—Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
But the film that follows — luminously ashen where too many recent movies and TV shows have just been irritatingly dim — is flooded with a moonlight so lucid and alive that even the story’s most stygian moments might as well have been set at high noon.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for ashen
John Tufts, IndyStar, 13 Jan. 2025
His skin, particularly his face, had an ashen appearance.
—Ars Technica, 10 Jan. 2025
Metal railings or a charred brick chimney were all that remained to distinguish the ashen piles.
—Connor Sheets, Los Angeles Times, 9 Jan. 2025
But the film that follows — luminously ashen where too many recent movies and TV shows have just been irritatingly dim — is flooded with a moonlight so lucid and alive that even the story’s most stygian moments might as well have been set at high noon.
—David Ehrlich, IndieWire, 2 Dec. 2024
See All Example Sentences for ashen
Recent Examples of Synonyms for ashen
Adjective
-
Morfydd Clark, pallid at first, has some emotive scenes at the wedding when Ophelia rails at Hamlet for turning away from her.—
Caryn James,
HollywoodReporter,
30 Aug. 2025
-
Yet senior test kitchen editor Jesse Szewczyk recently took one of those pallid lumps and coaxed utter brilliance from it.—
Chris Morocco,
Bon Appetit Magazine,
14 Aug. 2025
Adjective
-
One moment, the Sound of Sleat is a sheet of silver under a pale sun; the next, wind drives rain sideways into the distillery’s courtyard, rattling the pagoda roof.—
Gina Pace,
Forbes.com,
10 Sep. 2025
-
Curiosity and possibly even lust play into their first encounter; part of the welcome complexity between this pale-skinned woman of substance and this tall, equally alabaster, formerly dead drink of water is the ambiguity in their initial interactions.—
David Fear,
Rolling Stone,
9 Sep. 2025
Cite this Entry
“Ashen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ashen. Accessed 12 Sep. 2025.
Copy CitationLove words? Need even more definitions?
Merriam-Webster unabridged
Share