ASHEN Synonyms: 39 Similar and Opposite Words

ashen

adjective

ˈa-shən

Definition of ashen

as in pallid

lacking a healthy skin color still looking ashen from his bout with the flu

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Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.

Recent Examples of ashen The venerable monk was draped in his maroon and saffron robe, his bare feet looking ashen with dust, a few of his toes still blackened from his arduous walk. — Sarah Hepola, Dallas Morning News, 27 Feb. 2026 Nonetheless, at the end of the screening many members of the Vogue staff attended this week, one colleague turned to me with a slightly ashen look. — Chloe Schama, Vogue, 1 May 2026 Warm, ashen, and almost preternaturally glossy, consider the pop star's interpretation a blueprint for the mutable color trend. — Calin Van Paris, InStyle, 3 Mar. 2026 His ashen skin is snaked with circuitry, his voice flattened into the cold register of the Borg, a cybernetic collective that assimilates entire civilizations and reshapes them in its own image. — Jp Mangalindan, Time, 5 Apr. 2026 See All Example Sentences for ashen

Recent Examples of Synonyms for ashen

Adjective

Opponents of the proposal want the county to consider different locations for the park site, arguing the project may harm a variety of native species to the area, including the western spadefoot toad and pallid bats.

— Hannah Elsmore, San Diego Union-Tribune, 4 May 2026
While disrupting the business of an American multinational company may seem a pallid response to the destruction of an Iranian primary school where more than a hundred children were killed, such asymmetric attacks in the physical and digital realms have been a feature of this conflict.

— Sue Halpern, New Yorker, 24 Apr. 2026

Definition of pallid

Adjective

The room, its walls expensively craquelure'd to resemble fractured eggshells, its pale taffeta curtains billowing in the chill English breeze, is more Hollywood boudoir than office.

— Hamish Bowles, Vogue, 5 July 2026
But when taken together, our present divisions pale in comparison to the historical record.

— Drew Pittock, USA Today, 5 July 2026

Definition of pale

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ashed

ashen

ashes

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“Ashen.” Merriam-Webster.com Thesaurus, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/ashen. Accessed 7 Jul. 2026.

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Synonyms of ashen

adjective

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