harlequin
noun · adjective · verb
Simple meaning
A pantomime fool, usually dressed in colorful checkered clothes, used as a stock character in commedia dell'arte and other genres.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
hahrluhkwuhnSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈhɑɹləkwən
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.
noun
A pantomime fool, typically dressed in colorful checkered clothes, used as a stock character in commedia dell'arte and other genres.
A greenish-chartreuse color.
informal
A harlequin duck.
adjective
Brightly colored, especially in a pattern like that of a harlequin clown's clothes.
Of a greenish-chartreuse color.
verb
intransitive
To make sport by playing ludicrous tricks.
transitive
To remove or conjure away, as if by a harlequin's trick.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- C1 · Advanced (estimated)
- Frequency
- Uncommon
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: A pantomime fool, typically dressed in colorful checkered clothes, used as a stock character in commedia dell'arte and other genres.
Used this way, harlequin is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
More ways to use harlequin
- “His face was harlequined with patches.”verb
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A reddish opal with small patches of brilliant color.
Any of several venomous New World snakes brilliantly banded in red and black and either yellow or white.
Glaucous herb of northeastern United States and Canada having loose racemes of yellow-tipped pink flowers.
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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.