Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Unhealthy looking, especially of a pale yellowish or brownish color: Describes a complexion that is not healthy, often appearing pale with a yellowish or brownish tinge.

2. Noun:

   • A type of willow tree: Refers to any of several Old World shrubby broad-leaved willows (genus Salix), some of which are sources for tanbark and charcoal.

3. Verb:

   • To cause to become sallow: To make something, especially a person's skin, take on an unhealthy, pale, yellowish color.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:

  • His face looked thin and sallow after the long illness.
  • The sallow light of the lamp gave the room a gloomy feel.

• Noun:

  • The basket was woven from sallow branches.
  • This area is known for its thickets of sallow.

• Verb:

  • Years of working indoors had sallowed his complexion.
  • The illness has sallowed her face.

Advanced Usage

• "Sallow" as a descriptor for non-human subjects: While typically used for skin, it can poetically describe other things that have a sickly, pale yellowish hue.
  • The sallow pages of the ancient book crumbled at the touch.

Variants and Related Words

• Sallowness (noun): The state or quality of being sallow.
  • The sallowness of his skin was a cause for concern.

Synonyms

• Adjective: Wan, pallid, pasty, jaundiced (when referring to a yellowish tint), sickly.
• Noun: Willow, osier (a related type of willow).
• Verb: Blanch, pale, bleach (in the sense of removing healthy color).

Antonyms

• Adjective: Rosy, ruddy, flushed, healthy, glowing.

Adjective

1. unhealthy looking

Noun

1. any of several Old World shrubby broad-leaved willows having large catkins; some are important sources for tanbark and charcoal

Verb

1. cause to become sallow
   • The illness has sallowed her face