war paint
noun
Simple meaning
Adornment made up of paint applied to the face and body of certain Amerindians before a battle.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
wawrpayntSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈwɔɹˈpeɪnt
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
informal
Cosmetics applied to the face to improve or change your appearance
Adornment consisting of paint applied to the face and body of certain Amerindians before a battle
Pigments ritually applied to the face and/or body (originally and still especially of a Native American warrior) prior to going into a battle.
informal
Cosmetics, makeup.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Cosmetics applied to the face to improve or change your appearance
Used this way, war paint is a reasonably familiar word with a mildly favourable edge. It turns up most in everyday conversation and social media or informal writing contexts.
- Emotional tone
- Slightly positive
- Formality
- Casual
- Intensity
- Moderate
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Positive and appreciative
- Usage feel
- Casual and conversational
Where it naturally appears
- Everyday conversation
- Social media/informal writing
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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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.