Word.ws English Dictionary

incarnadine

Syllables: in·car·nad·ine/ɪnˈkɑːnədiːn/US/ɪnˈkɑɹnəˌdiːn/

incarnadine adjective: of the pale pink or pale red colour of flesh; carnation.

Adjective

incarnadine (comparative more incarnadine, superlative most incarnadine)

  1. (archaic, literary, originally) Of the pale pink or pale red colour of flesh; carnation.
    • Incarnadine, or Incarnate, that is of a bright Carnation or Fleſh Colour, or of the Colour of a Damask-Roſe.[1706, Edward Phillips, compiler, J[ohn] K[ersey the younger], “Incarnadine, or Incarnate”, in The New World of Words: Or, Universal English Dictionary. […], 6th edition, London: […] J. Phillips...
  2. (archaic, literary) Of the blood-red colour of raw flesh; crimson.
    • Wild and dishevelled, thy luxuriant hair / Falls scattered o'er thy throbbing bosom, fair / As snow incarnadine with morning's ray;— [...]1840 May, James A. Morris, “Sonnet.—No. III. La Madalena. By Guido.”, in [Edward Smallwood], editor, The Psyche. A Magazine of Belles Lettres, the Drama, Poetry, Music, and the Fine Arts, volume IV...
    • The bandages on his hands – cerise and incarnadine, opalescent and viridian – were grotesqueries that only emphasised his stature.2010, Stephen [Reeder] Donaldson, Against All Things Ending, London: Gollancz, →ISBN
  3. (archaic, figuratively, literary) Bloodstained, bloody.
    • His poem, however, is meetly enough entituled—Christ Crucified! But the Rev. William Ellis Wall is worse than [Pontius] Pilate. That "wretch," as this miserable calls the Roman governor, was careful to wash his hands of all guilt in the transaction; but the Rev. William Ellis Wall holds forth...1833 December, “The Poets of the Day. Batch the Third.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume VIII, number XLVIII, London: James Fraser […], →OCLC, page 658, column 2
    • "Basically I am a very good person." This from the latest serial killer–destined for the chair, they say–who, with incarnadine axe, recently dispatched half a dozen registered nurses in Texas.1992 October 16, Donna Tartt, chapter 6, in The Secret History (A Borzoi Book), New York, N.Y.: Alfred A[braham] Knopf, published October 2002, →ISBN, page 257
  4. (archaic, literary, generally) Of a red colour.
    • Let the wine incarnadine, / In crystal goblets gleaming, / Be the sign, O muse divine, / Of golden moments teeming.1908 May, “Book XV: In College Days”, in Oscar Leslie Boose, editor, The Michiganensian: A Year Book for 1908, volume XII, number 1, [Ann Arbor, Mich.]: Senior classes of the University of Michigan...
    • Green orchards with ripe fruit incarnadine, / Each several member autumn-canopied / So thickly as to bend beneath its freight, [...]1931, E[ric] K[ent] Ellis, The Call of Abraham: The Seatonian Prize Poem for 1931, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: University Press, →OCLC, page 2

Noun

incarnadine (countable and uncountable, plural incarnadines)

  1. (archaic, literary, originally) The pale pink or pale red colour of flesh; carnation.
    • To dye SILK FLESH colour or INCARNADINE. For every pound of ſilk, put in a quarter of a pound of Braſil; boil it, ſtrain it through a ſieve, and pour freſh cold water upon it.1735, [John Barrow], “[FLESH]”, in Dictionarium Polygraphicum: Or, The Whole Body of Arts Regularly Digested. […], volume I (A–H), London: […] C[harles] Hitch and C[harles] Davis […], and S[amuel]...
    • The woman whom he now saw was a noble, beautiful creature, [...] Beautiful chestnut hair, shaded with veins of gold, a brow which seemed chiselled marble, cheeks which seemed made of roses, a pale incarnadine, a flushed whiteness, an exquisite mouth, whence came a smile like the gleam of sunshine...1994, Victor Hugo, “Lux Facta Est”, in Les Misérables (Wordsworth Classics), volume 1, Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Editions, published 2002, →ISBN, part 3 (Marius), book 6 (The Conjunction of Two...
  2. (archaic, literary) The blood-red colour of raw flesh; crimson.
    • Now thou [the sea] must wear an unmix'd crimson; no / Barbaric blood can reconcile us now / Unto that horrible incarnadine, / But friend or foe will roll in civic slaughter.1821, Lord Byron, Marino Faliero, Doge of Venice. An Historical Tragedy, in Five Acts. […], London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, Act IV, scene ii, page 119
  3. (archaic, literary, generally) A red colour.
    • Now sixty-eight years of age she [Elizabeth I] has chosen for the occasion of a dance in her honor a long flowing velvet gown of incarnadine red.2014, John Ransome Bentley, chapter 31, in The Royal Secret, [La Cañada Flintridge, Calif.]: Meadow Grove, published June 2015, →ISBN, page 147

Verb

incarnadine (third-person singular simple present incarnadines, present participle incarnadining, simple past and past participle incarnadined)

  1. (archaic, literary, transitive, originally) To make flesh-coloured.
    • [T]he clouds, till that time thick in the sky, broke away from the upper heaven, and allowed the noonday sun to pour down through the lantern upon her, irradiating her with a warm light that was incarnadined by her pink doublet and hose, and reflected in upon her face.1880–1881, Thomas Hardy, chapter VII, in A Laodicean; or, The Castle of the De Stancys. A Story of To-day. […], volume II, London: Sampson Low, Marston, Searle & Rivington, […], published 1881...
  2. (also, archaic, figuratively, literary, transitive) To make red, especially blood-coloured or crimson; to redden.
    • Will all great Neptunes ocean waſh this blood / Cleane from my Hand? no: this my Hand will rather / The multitudinous Seas incarnardine, / Making the Greene one, Red.c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount...
    • Virgins of equall birth, [...] / Shall draw thy picture, and record thy life; / One ſhall enſphere thine eyes, another ſhall / Impearl thy teeth[,] a third thy white and ſmall / Hand ſhall beſnow, a fourth incarnadine / Thy roſie cheek, [...]1640 (first publication), Thomas Carew, “Obsequies to the Lady Anne Hay”, in Poems, with a Maske, […], 3rd edition, London: […] H[umphrey] M[oseley] and are to be sold by J[ohn] Martin, […]...

incarnadine meaning in Tamil, Bengali and Malayalam

incarnadine in Tamil

தசை நிறமுடைய

incarnadine in Bengali

মাংসের মতো লাল রং

incarnadine in Malayalam

incarnadine
പാടല pāṭala

Examples of incarnadine in a sentence

  • William Ellis Wall holds forth triumphantly his two unhallowed and incarnadine maniples of reeking digits, boasting of the infamous achievement in a most egregious preface.1833 December, “The Poets of the Day. Batch the Third.”, in Fraser’s Magazine for Town and Country, volume VIII, number XLVIII, London...
  • [H]e dies. / His wife her cheeks rends inconſolable, / His babes are fatherleſs, his blood the glebe / Incarnadines, and where he bleeds and rots / More birds of prey than women haunt the place.1791, Homer, “[The Iliad.] Book XI.”, in W[illiam] Cowper, transl., The Iliad and Odyssey of Homer, Translated into Blank Verse, […]...
  • And he, who turn'd the waters into blood, / Shall next incarnadine these desart sands, / Whilst dogs and vultures hunt us on the track.1807, [Richard Cumberland; James Burges], “Book the First”, in The Exodiad, a Poem, London: […] J. Wright, […], for Lackington, Allen, and...
  • These were the times when the hardy military virtues might flourish—when Cressy and Agincourt could occur, and the war of the Roses incarnadine the soil of England: [...]1838, William Kent, “The Rise and Progress of Commercial Law in English Jurisprudence: An Inaugural Address”, in Inaugural Addresses...

Forms of incarnadine

Adjective
comparativemore incarnadine
superlativemost incarnadine
Noun
pluralincarnadines
Verb
third-person singular presentincarnadines
present participleincarnadining
past participleincarnadined
pastincarnadined

Origin of incarnadine

The adjective is derived from French incarnadin, incarnadine, from Italian incarnadino, a variant of incarnatino (“carnation; flesh colour”), from incarnato (“embodied, incarnate”) + -ino (suffix forming adjectives denoting composition, colour, or other qualities). Incarnato is derived from Ecclesiastical Latin and Late Latin incarnātus (“having been made incarnate”), the perfect passive participle of incarnō (“to become or make incarnate; to make into flesh”), from in- (suffix meaning ‘in, inside, within’) + Latin carō (“flesh, meat; body”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ker- (“to cut off”)) + -ō (suffix forming regular first-conjugation verbs). By surface analysis, in- + Latin carn- + -ade + -ine. The noun and verb are derived from the adjective. Adjective senses 2 and 3 (“of the blood-red colour of raw flesh; (figurative) bloostained, bloody”) and noun sense 2 (“blood-red colour of raw flesh”) are due to William Shakespeare’s use of the word as a verb in Macbeth (c. 1606): see the quotation below.

Words formed from incarnadine

Questions about incarnadine

What does incarnadine mean?
Incarnadine means of the pale pink or pale red colour of flesh; carnation.
What is incarnadine in Tamil?
Incarnadine in Tamil is தசை நிறமுடைய. See Incarnadine meaning in Tamil.
How do you use incarnadine in a sentence?
William Ellis Wall holds forth triumphantly his two unhallowed and incarnadine maniples of reeking digits, boasting of the infamous achievement in a most egregious preface.
What part of speech is incarnadine?
Incarnadine can be an adjective, a noun or a verb.
How do you pronounce incarnadine?
Incarnadine is pronounced /ɪnˈkɑːnədiːn/ (UK).

Words near incarnadine in the dictionary

  1. incardination
  2. incardinations
  3. Incarial
  4. incarmined
  5. incarn
  6. incarnadine
  7. incarnadined
  8. incarnadines
  9. incarnadining
  10. incarnant
  11. incarnants

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: incarnadine (page history and authors); incarnadine (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); incarnadine (Bengali Wiktionary) (page history and authors); പാടല (Malayalam) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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