maroon

1 of 3

noun (1)

ma·​roon mə-ˈrün How to pronounce maroon (audio)
: a dark red

maroon

2 of 3

verb

marooned; marooning; maroons

transitive verb

1
: to put ashore on a desolate island or coast and leave to one's fate
2
: to place or leave in isolation or without hope of ready escape

maroon

3 of 3

noun (2)

plural maroons
1
: a person who is marooned
2
maroon or Maroon : a Black person of the Americas who escaped slavery and formed or joined a free and often secluded settlement or a descendant of such a person
Wherever Africans were enslaved in the world, there were runaways who escaped permanently and lived in free independent settlements. These people and their descendants are known as "maroons."Richard Grant
From the late 17th century to the end of the [U.S.] Civil War, thousands of maroons—runaways who obtained their freedom by occupying remote and uninhabited regions—lived in relative secrecy throughout the 750-square-mile wilderness.Lex Pryor
especially, usually Maroon : a maroon of the West Indies or Guiana in the 17th and 18th centuries or a descendant of such a person
In the eighteenth century, a number of Africans … who had been enslaved on plantations in French Guiana and Suriname escaped their forced labor and gathered in groups in the forests between colonial settlements. There these rebels, called Maroons, built their own communities. … Today, Maroons are still living where their ancestors literally cleared paths … Hilton Als
Decades before, in 1796, the diaspora began setting down roots in Canada when 600 Jamaican Maroons (the descendants of enslaved people who had escaped) were deported from Jamaica to Nova Scotia. Danica Samuel

Examples of maroon in a Sentence

Verb sailors marooned on a desert island
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Over time leaves gracefully cascade down with bright red flowers emerging from dark maroon calyxes. Kristin Guy, Sunset Magazine, 5 Mar. 2024 At Pinewood, RuPaul emerged from a bathroom, decked out for a non-drag segment of the show in a Trina Turk suit with a swirling, psychedelic maroon print. Ronan Farrow, The New Yorker, 1 Mar. 2024 Gomez's figure-flaunting gown featured a scalloped neckline and maroon embellishments crafted from 450,000 sequins. Brittany Talarico, Peoplemag, 25 Feb. 2024 Police and firefighters responded to a multi-vehicle crash at 3:39 p.m. Monday after a silver GMC pickup truck traveling east on 64th Avenue ran a red light at Lamar Street, hitting a maroon Toyota sedan and a gray Ford Bronco. Katie Langford, The Denver Post, 5 Feb. 2024 Trending Defendants Jordan, who wore a maroon vest, and Washington, in a gray suit, looked on with interest throughout questioning. Kory Grow, Rolling Stone, 20 Feb. 2024 Liu, 34, first stepped onto the red carpet in a classic maroon Berluti suit paired with a pale purple button-down shirt, dark red shoes and a gold Fernando Jorge necklace and an IWC Portugieser Perpetual Calendar watch. Michelle Lee, Peoplemag, 19 Feb. 2024 Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Then, police released this photo of the suspect's car – a maroon Yukon Denali. Megan Brown, CBS News, 17 Feb. 2024 When the colorful effect is at peak vibrancy between July and November, the river seems to run green, magenta, purple, maroon, and canary yellow simultaneously. Carley Rojas Avila, Travel + Leisure, 3 Feb. 2024
Verb
The 35-year-old school principal ended up on what may go down as the worst tribe in the history of the game, as the original Lulu lost every single immunity challenge as well as the marooning competition. EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023 Your tribe lost every single immunity challenge, and the marooning challenge. EW.com, 19 Oct. 2023 For 12 days, we were marooned at home — with out-of-town company, no less. Hollace Ava Weiner, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 27 Jan. 2024 Enlarge / Starfield is the astronaut marooned on the Xbox planet, gazing longingly at Call of Duty exploring the rest of the PlayStation galaxy. Kyle Orland, Ars Technica, 27 June 2023 But more than two years after the party was marooned on that barren speck of land, a rescue operation found Blackjack to be the sole survivor of the Wrangel Island expedition. Natalie Schachar, New York Times, 9 Dec. 2023 Wright, a founder of modern population genetics, was intrigued by an apparent paradox: If a population of organisms managed to reach the top of a small hill, they would be marooned there, surrounded by worse states. Quanta Magazine, 28 Nov. 2023 But what about being marooned on another planet, with only a thin barrier separating you and your peers from the vacuum of space? Conor Feehly, Discover Magazine, 13 July 2023 The narrator is asked to care for a macaw by friends of a friend who are marooned in California, moving into their apartment only to learn that the former bird-sitter, a troubled young man, has moved in, too. Wyatt Mason, New York Times, 30 Oct. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'maroon.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun (1)

French marron Spanish chestnut

Noun (2)

probably from French maron, marron feral, fugitive, modification of American Spanish cimarrón wild, savage

First Known Use

Noun (1)

1779, in the meaning defined above

Verb

circa 1709, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Noun (2)

1666, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Time Traveler
The first known use of maroon was in 1666

Dictionary Entries Near maroon

Cite this Entry

“Maroon.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/maroon. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

maroon

1 of 2 verb
ma·​roon mə-ˈrün How to pronounce maroon (audio)
1
: to put ashore and abandon on a lonely island or coast
2
: to leave isolated and helpless

maroon

2 of 2 noun
: a dark red

More from Merriam-Webster on maroon

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