Word.ws English Dictionary

maroon

Syllables: ma·roon/məˈɹuːn/

More pronunciations (1)Fewer pronunciations

Australia/məˈɹəʉn/

maroon noun: an escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.

maroon: an escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person
Image: Gordon Browne (1858-1932), Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun (1)

maroon (plural maroons)

  1. An escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.
    • Further north a Maroon community in the Bahoruco Mountains thrived for eighty-five years, until the French proposed a truce under the terms of which the Maroons would be permitted to form an independent clan.1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 193
    • Joining others who had escaped before them, they formed communities of Maroons in which many traditional African customs and social mores were preserved.2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 14
  2. A castaway; a person who has been marooned (abandoned).
    Synonyms:
    castaway, marooner

Adjective (1)

maroon (not comparable)

  1. Associated with Maroon culture, communities or peoples.
    • In her discussion of Michelle Cliff's Abeng, a novel that historicizes maroon culture and the Jamaican warrior heroine Nanny of the Maroons, Francoise Lionnet examines linguistic “metissage” […]2002, Cynthia James, The Maroon Narrative: Caribbean Literature in English Across Boundaries, Ethnicities, and Centuries, Heinemann Educational Books

Verb

maroon (third-person singular simple present maroons, present participle marooning, simple past and past participle marooned)

  1. To abandon in a remote, desolate place, as on a desert island.
    • Hard-hit by the Arctic winter, the Waverley route was completely closed from January 6-9, when an avalanche between Whitrope and Riccarton marooned Class A2 4-6-2 No. 60535 Hornet's Beauty.1963 April, “Winter on the Waverley”, in Modern Railways, page 281, photo caption
    • After the harrowing stories of being marooned at sea and stranded in the frozen wastelands of Alaska and the Poles, one would think that survival on dry land would be easier […]2010, Brogan Steele, From the Jaws of Death: Extreme True Adventures of Man vs. Nature, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, page 231

Noun (2)

maroon (countable and uncountable, plural maroons)

  1. A rich dark red, somewhat brownish, color.
    • Is it a really dark maroon or a lighter maroon or a maroon that leans toward the red side? Or the magenta side? To address this issue, scientists use something called a color space.2009, Ben Long, The Nikon D90 Companion: Practical Photography Advice You Can Take Anywhere, O'Reilly Media, Inc., →ISBN, page 176

Adjective (2)

maroon (comparative more maroon, superlative most maroon)

  1. Of a dark red or reddish-brown color.

Noun (3)

maroon (plural maroons)

  1. A rocket-propelled firework or skyrocket, often one used as a signal (for example, to summon the crew of a lifeboat or warn of an air raid).
    • On Sunday afternoon a serious firework explosion occurred in Lambeth, whereby three persons were seriously injured. Two lads […] purchased a firework called a “maroon”, which is a bomb consisting of a small ball of string covered with a red composition. It is loaded with gunpowder, and there is...1887 November 5, “Metropolitan Reports”, in The Chemist and Druggist, page 564
    • As the evening falls, colored lamps and Chinese lanterns are lighted around the venerable oak which stands in the middle of the fairground and boys climb about among its topmost branches with maroons and Bengal lights.1891, Alexander Kielland, “At the Fair”, in William Archer, transl., Tales of Two Countries, New York: Harper, page 73

Noun (4)

maroon (plural maroons)

  1. (derogatory, slang) An idiot; a fool.
    • At least, I would not be sleeping that night. Why did I have that espresso? What a maroon!2011, S. Watts Taylor, Tarnish, iUniverse, published 2011, →ISBN, page 21

Noun (5) capitalized: Maroon

Maroon (plural Maroons)

  1. (alternative) Alternative form of maroon (“descendant of escaped slaves”).

Proper noun capitalized: Maroon

Maroon (plural Maroons)

  1. A surname.

Noun (6) capitalized: Maroon

Maroon (plural Maroons)

  1. (Australia) A member of the Queensland State of Origin rugby league team, who wear maroon-coloured jerseys.

maroon meaning in Hindi, Tamil, Urdu and Bengali

maroon in Hindi

dark red, somewhat brownish colour
महरून mahrūn, मैरून mairūn
color
महरून mahrūn, मैरून mairūn

maroon in Tamil

மெரூன், மெரூன் செய்ய

maroon in Urdu

مرون, مٔرون

maroon in Bengali

মেরুন, মরুন
More languagesFewer languages
maroon in Telugu
మెరూన్, మరూన్, మెరూన్ వరకు
maroon in Malayalam
മെറൂൺ, മരൂൺ
maroon in Kannada
ಮರೂನ್, ಮೆರೂನ್, ಮರೂನ್ಗೆ
maroon in Punjabi
ਮਰੂਨ, ਮੈਰੂਨ, ਮਰੂਨ ਤੱਕ
maroon in Gujarati
મરૂન, મેરૂન, મરૂન કરવા માટે
maroon in Nepali
मरून, मरूनमा
maroon in Arabic
كَسْتَنَائِيّ kastanāʔiyy
maroon in Malay
jahang, merah tua
maroon in Indonesian
marun, merah marun
maroon in Persian
بلوطی baluti
maroon in Thai
เลือดหมู lʉ̂ʉat-mǔu, เลือดนก lʉ̂ʉat-nók
maroon in Vietnamese
nâu hạt dẻ, nâu sẫm

Examples of maroon in a sentence

  • Two lads […] purchased a firework called a “maroon”, which is a bomb consisting of a small ball of string covered with a red composition.1887 November 5, “Metropolitan Reports”, in The Chemist and Druggist, page 564:
  • Some of these ‘Lifeboat Horses’ used to recognise the maroon which was fired to summon the Lifeboat crew.1900, Alan C. Jenkins, Introducing Horses, London: Spring Books:
  • There is a shortage of maroons that I don't understand. / the countess.1931 (date written), [George] Bernard Shaw, “Too True to Be Good: A Political Extravaganza”, in Too True to Be Good, Village Wooing & On...
  • They began with a nightmare of warning maroons, sirens, hooters and the shrill whistles of cyclist scouts, then swarms of frantic people running to and fro, […]1933 September, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Last War Cyclone, 1940–50”, in The Shape of Things to Come, 1st American edition, New York...

All 27 example sentences with maroon

Synonyms of maroon

30 more synonymsFewer synonyms

All synonyms of maroon

Forms of maroon

Noun
pluralmaroons
alternative formMaroon
pluralMaroons
Verb
third-person singular presentmaroons
present participlemarooning
past participlemarooned
pastmarooned
Adjective
comparativemore maroon
superlativemost maroon
Proper noun
pluralMaroons

Plural of maroon: maroons

Origin of maroon

From French marron (“feral; fugitive”, adjective), from Spanish cimarrón (“fugitive, wild, feral”); see that entry for more.

From earlier marone, marron, borrowed from French marron (“chestnut; brown”). Compare Spanish marrón. Doublet of marron (“sweet chestnut”).

Unknown. Possibly related to the sense “castaway” (etymology 1), or owing to the fact that the color of a fired flare was commonly red (etymology 2).

Words formed from maroon

Phrases with maroon

Words that rhyme with maroon

48 more rhymesFewer rhymes

Questions about maroon

What does maroon mean?
Maroon means an escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.
What is maroon in Hindi?
Maroon in Hindi is महरून (mahrūn), मैरून (mairūn). See Maroon meaning in Hindi.
How do you use maroon in a sentence?
Two lads […] purchased a firework called a “maroon”, which is a bomb consisting of a small ball of string covered with a red composition.
What part of speech is maroon?
Maroon can be a noun, an adjective, a verb or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce maroon?
Maroon is pronounced /məˈɹuːn/.
What is the plural of maroon?
The plural of maroon is maroons.

Words near maroon in the dictionary

  1. maroodi
  2. maroodis
  3. marool
  4. maroola
  5. maroolas
  6. maroon
  7. Maroon Bells
  8. Maroon Creek
  9. maroon cucumber
  10. maroon cucumbers
  11. maroon lake

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: maroon (page history and authors); Maroon (page history and authors); maroon (Tamil, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Urdu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Bengali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Telugu, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Malayalam, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Kannada, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Punjabi, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Gujarati, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license); maroon (Nepali, IndicTrans2 machine translation) (model and license). 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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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: en-uk-maroon.ogg.

Cite this entry: “maroon.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/maroon. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.