colorist

1 of 2

noun

col·​or·​ist ˈkə-lə-rist 

-lər-ist

plural colorists

: one that colors or deals with color

colorist

2 of 2

adjective

: prejudiced against people with dark skin

specifically : showing favor to light-skinned people over those with darker skin within a racial or ethnic group

Over the weekend, Khloé Kardashian faced a particularly vicious bout of cyberbullying that might be among the most inappropriate yet, since commenters began leaving racist and colorist comments about her five-month-old daughter, True Thompson.

—Andrea Park

Examples of colorist in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Noun

And between such events, Barco has a five-person content team that goes out and shares the good news across Hollywood, proselytizing to creatives, colorists, directors and studio execs, and winning influential converts in the likes of Jerry Bruckheimer and Joseph Kosinski. —Ben Croll, Variety, 15 May 2024

For over 10 of those years, celebrity colorist Rita Hazan has been responsible for treating the Queen’s mane. —India Espy-Jones, Essence, 2 May 2024

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from French coloriste, from Latin color color entry 1 + French -iste -ist entry 1

Adjective

color entry 1 + -ist entry 2 (after racist entry 1, sexist, etc.)

First Known Use

Noun

1685, in the meaning defined above

Adjective

1990, in the meaning defined above