Meaning & use
sallow complexion
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Meaning
phrasefixed phraseliterary
A skin tone that looks slightly yellow and unhealthy, often because of illness, tiredness or poor diet.
Grammar: Used as a noun phrase: she had a sallow complexion.
Patterns
- have a sallow complexion
After weeks of illness, he had a sallow complexion.
The doctor noticed her sallow complexion and asked about her diet.
The portrait showed an old man with a sallow complexion.
Common combinations
- have a sallow complexion
- She had a sallow complexion after the long illness.
- look sallow
- He looked sallow under the harsh lights.
- pale and sallow
- The patient was pale and sallow.
- sallow skin
- Sallow skin can mean a lack of sleep.
Synonyms and how they differ
- pallid
- Pallid means very pale, while sallow suggests a yellow tint.
- jaundiced
- Jaundiced is a medical or strongly yellow look, more extreme than sallow.
- wan
- Wan means weak and pale from tiredness, with less of a yellow shade.
Opposites
Word family
- sallow adjective
- unhealthily yellowish
- sallowness noun
- the state of being sallow
- complexion noun
- the natural color and look of the skin on the face
Commonly confused: sallow complexion or swallow?
sallow complexion vs swallow
Swallow means to pass food down the throat or a type of bird. It looks similar but is unrelated.
Practice
Which person would most likely be described as having a sallow complexion?
Choose one answer.
Sallow means a yellowish, unhealthy skin tone. A tan or red cheeks are different colors.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “sallow complexion”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.