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
On the fall runways, Conner Ives set the precedent for the rugby shirt trend with a sporty maroon number, while Collina Strada debuted burgundy velvet corsets and Fendi did sheer burgundy tees. Ebony-Renee Baker, refinery29.com, 25 Sep. 2024 Brody wore a dark suit with a tan sweater underneath, while Bell, 44, wore a maroon jacket-style minidress and red knee-high boots. Catherine Santino, Peoplemag, 24 Sep. 2024
Verb
The movie, a sci-fi survival story about a robot that’s marooned on an uninhabited island, debuts on Sunday night at Toronto Film Festival and may prompt moviegoers to shed a few tears. Rebecca Rubin, Variety, 8 Sep. 2024 The last hurricane left a 30-foot shrimp boat marooned next door to Allaire’s plot, several hundred feet inland. Zoë Schlanger, The Atlantic, 3 Sep. 2024 See all Example Sentences for maroon 

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 10 Oct. 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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