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Cast not a jaundiced eye on the word jaundiced—and by that we mean this: don’t dislike or distrust jaundiced because of past experiences with the word or with others like it. Jaundiced is handy for describing the grumps among us who tend toward envy, aversion, or hostility, and who doesn’t know a few of those? This useful 17th century adjective comes from an also-useful 14th century noun jaundice that still refers to a medical condition in which excess bile pigments in the bloodstream and body tissues cause a person’s skin to turn yellow. The connection between the physical condition and the bad attitude lies in the physiological theory of the bodily humors, which holds that a hostile, irritable temperament is caused by excess yellow bile in one’s body.
Examples of jaundiced in a Sentence
C. Christine Fair, Foreign Affairs, 27 July 2018
The Monkey begins its jaundiced tale on the adolescence of twin brothers, Hal and Bill (Christian Convery), who are a study in contrasts.
—Angelica Jade Bastién, Vulture, 22 Feb. 2025
Is this too harsh, too jaundiced?
—George Caulkin, The Athletic, 8 Jan. 2025
Beautyland, Marie-Helene Bertino Marie-Helene Bertino’s inventive novel begins when an unusually small and jaundiced baby named Adina Giorno is born in Philadelphia.
—Annabel Gutterman, TIME, 6 Dec. 2024
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Cite this Entry
“Jaundiced.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/jaundiced. Accessed 4 May. 2025.
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jaundiced
adjective
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