discolor
verb
Simple meaning
Lose color or turn colorless.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
dihskuhlerSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
dɪsˈkʌlɚ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
verb
American spelling
Lose color or turn colorless
American spelling
Cause to lose or change color
American spelling
Change color, often in an undesired manner
American spelling
To change or lose color.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C2 · Proficient (estimated)
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
This meaning: Lose color or turn colorless
Used this way, discolor is a word tied to one variety of English with a faintly unfavourable edge. Most speakers understand it but seldom reach for it.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly negative
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Regional
- Connotation
- Critical or judgemental
- Usage feel
- Uncommon in everyday speech
Usage note
Mainly used in American English, so it may read as unusual elsewhere.
Nearby words
- discolour , rarer, so it draws attention
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use discolor
- “The painting discolored.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
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Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
Stout North American thistle with purplish-pink flower heads.
Small willow of eastern North America having greyish leaves and silky catkins that come before the leaves.
Related words
Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.
A soiled or discolored appearance.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.