How to use mellow in a sentence

40 example sentences · adjective, noun, verb

Mellow means soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp. Example: “The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.”

Examples of mellow by meaning

adjectiveSoft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

a mellow apple

adjectiveNot coarse, brash, harsh, or rough; delicate, rich, soft, subdued.

When they told her about the robin and the first flight of the young ones she laughed a motherly little mellow laugh in her throat.1910 November – 1911 August, Frances Hodgson Burnett, “‘It’s Mother!’”, in The Secret Garden, New York, N.Y.: Frederick A[bbott] Stokes...
Here the stripped panelling was warmly gold and the pictures, mostly of the English school, were mellow and gentle in the afternoon light.1963, Margery Allingham, “Miss Thyrza’s Chair”, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC, page 41

adjectiveWell-matured from age or experience; not impetuous or impulsive; calm, dignified, gentle.

"Marilla Cuthbert has got mellow.1908 June, L[ucy] M[aud] Montgomery, “The Bend in the Road”, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston, Mass.: L[ouis] C[oues] Page & Company...

adjectivePleasantly high or stoned, and relaxed after taking drugs; also, of drugs: slightly intoxicating and tending to produce...

These boys were heavy smokers, and like my high school classmates, were always "high", "cool" and "mellow." They were never violent and were helpful and respectful to the adults in our village.2004, Cecil Young, “Department of Health”, in One Canada: Creating the Greatest Country on Earth, Victoria, B.C.: Trafford Publishing...
Late that night, everyone was sprawled on the sofas and bean bags in the lounge room, mellow because they'd smoked a couple of joints of hash.2014, Julie McSorley, Marcus McSorley, “Part One: Early 1980s”, in Out of the Box: The Highs and Lows of a Champion Smuggler, Berkeley...
"It better be that mellow shit, Kerry," Wendy said, biting into a cookie.2014, Carrie Mesrobian, chapter 9, in Perfectly Good White Boy, Minneapolis, Minn.: Carolrhoda Lab, Lerner Publishing Group, →ISBN, page 132

nounA comfortable or relaxed mood.

Nothing like a suicide to harsh a mellow.1999, Kurt Andersen, chapter 37, in Turn of the Century, New York, N.Y.: Random House, →ISBN, part 3 (June, July, August, September...

verbTo cause (a person) to become calmer, gentler, and more understanding, particularly from age or experience.

The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.

More sentences with mellow

Dave was kicking and screaming, so I had to cool him down with some mellow music.From the entry cool down
After watching him perform so energetically, it is a bit of a trip to hang out with him when he's out of character. In real life, he's really mellow.From the entry out of character
His father has mellowed, too; a bad hip has softened his cough.2016, Mary Morrissy, Prosperity Drive, →ISBN. From the entry soften someone's cough
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.2015 September 3, Dawn Gagnon, “Castine suffers water shortage: Town buying from Bucksport”, in Bangor Daily News, state edition, Bangor…. From the entry fido
During the final section treble strings maintained a tingly sitarlike drone over a mellow countermelody and Mr.2009 August 10, Steve Smith, “Guitarists by the Hundreds, With a Funk Chaser, Power an Outdoor Concert”, in New York Times. From the entry sitarlike
But Heilmann set an easy, mellow tone effortlessly and from the front.2008 October 27, William Pym, “Something About Mary”, in Artforum, New York, N.Y.: Artforum Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original…. From the entry timbery
Cymarron's sound resembled the mellow folkie emissions of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and America.1990, Wayne Jancik, The Billboard Book of One-Hit Wonders, →ISBN, page 274. From the entry emission
At Beech, on the other hand, the hard stuff is mellowed into a longer drink.1989 02, “Skiing”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), page 99. From the entry Southern Comfort
Hidden away in the Vale of Evesham lies the mellow village of Bretforton.1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publishers Ltd, page 88. From the entry Bretforton
Sometimes I would see them real mellow and the next minute they’d be all zombied out.1979, Harvey W. Feldman, Michael Agar, George M. Beschner, editors, Angel Dust, page 87. From the entry zombied-out
Then as the darkness descended, they began to shine with the mellow radiance of gaslight.1953 April, Henry Maxwell, “Abandoned Railway Stations”, in Railway Magazine, page 270. From the entry gaslight
Conan-Doylish ability characterizes this narration, which ends on a note of mellow, pre-eminently mature, human wisdom.1951 autumn, Elio Gianturco, “Mario Soldati. A cena col Commendatore. […]”, in Books Abroad: An International Literary Quarterly, volume…. From the entry Conan-Doylish
The sun had set some time since, but the landscape was still clear in the mellow afterlight.1908, Lucy Maud Montgomery, chapter 2, in Anne of Green Gables, Boston: L.C. Page, page 30. From the entry afterlight
Phillips's gustless but mellow blank verse, to the accentless but even-knit pattern of his plot.1902, Gabriele D'Annunzio, The Dream of a Spring Morning, page 132. From the entry gustless
Fresh oregano has a very forward flavor, once it is dried or cooked, it's a bit more mellow.2025 March 25, Bevin Cohen, Herbs in Every Season: 48 Edible and Medicinal Herbs for the Kitchen, Garden, and Apothecary, Timber Press…. From the entry forward
My first day of riding was more pedally and mellow than the second day, which was uplifted by the resort.2017 June 27, Tom Marvin, “Intense Carbine first ride review”, in Bike Radar. From the entry pedally
Solo songs are several repetitions of the same phrase, e.g., a liquid mellow cloop cloop cloop or peewit peewit peewit.2015, Thane K. Pratt, Bruce M[cPherson] Beehler, “Magpielark Grallina cyanoleuca”, in Birds of New Guinea (Princeton Field Guides), 2nd…. From the entry cloop
In fact the flugel, though related to the trumpet, reveals its mellow gentleness here, and the clarinet its strident edge.2010 November 15, “BBCNOW/Roth at St David’s Hall, Cardiff”, in The Times. From the entry flugel
Not too speedy, not too mellow, a nice high.2006, Lynn Marie Smith, Rolling Away: My Agony with Ecstasy, →ISBN, page 26. From the entry Mitsubishi
And the secret to seeing—really seeing—was quieting the bossy know-it-all left brain so the mellower right brain could do its magic.2005, Daniel H. Pink, A Whole New Mind, Riverhead Books, page 15. From the entry right brain
She recites her own family’s mantra regarding toilet-flushing: “If it’s yellow, let it mellow; if it’s brown, flush it down.”2002 October 7, Liz Stevens, “Green day”, in Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 97th year, number 165, Fort Worth, Tex., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 11D…. From the entry if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down
Well, it is passivistic because it's a suggestion — a mantra — to mellow out, to see a larger picture.1998, John Edgar Wideman, Bonnie TuSmith, Conversations with John Edgar Wideman. From the entry passivistic
The floors were paved with mellow red tiles filched from an old farmhouse and the ceilings were beamed with jarrahwood.1989, Désirée Picton-Seymour, Historical buildings in South Africa. From the entry jarrahwood
They are on middle ground now, that area of jazz which welcomes hardy perennials as well as mellowed recondites.1976, Coda Magazine: The Journal of Jazz and Improvised Music, Toronto, Ont.: Coda Publishing, →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25, column 1. From the entry recondite
The voice sounded mellow and reasonable, but the man was as quibbly and higgly a guy as you could find.1956, Edward Hoagland, Cat Man, page 134. From the entry quibbly
But, after much thought, much time in the mycelial rot-scape of Dionysus, Orpheus, Tristan, Merlin, and Tom Bombadil, I've had time to mellow.2022, Sophie Strand, The Flowering Wand: Rewilding the Sacred Masculine. From the entry rot-scape
Pratiwi braises the beef more gently, in the oven, until it’s very tender and glistening all over with a dark, mellow sauce.2016 July 5, Tejal Rao, “Ending the Ramadan Fast With an Indonesian Feast”, in New York Times. From the entry semur
Either way, the track’s a mellow belter, or a melter, or a bellow: jittery, propulsive percussion slide-steps over fluttery layered vocal stabs and catacombic bass.2015 August 7, Phil Harrison, “ReviewAnything: a dog, the Tube Strike and more, rated and slated”, in The Guardian. From the entry catacombic
If it's yellow, let it mellow.2009, Melissa Seligman, David Seligman, Simply Green, →ISBN, page 99. From the entry if it's yellow, let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down
There's a mellow vibe that I think stems from the lack of vehicle traffic, thanks to the shuttle that carries around the googly-eyed employees.2009, Jeffrey S. Jenkins, In Bolivia, page 142. From the entry googly-eyed
Paolo had decided he needed a more mellow persona so as not to upset the natives, but one still different enough to fascinate them.2001, Jacques Whitecloud, The Sin Eater, →ISBN, page 42. From the entry upset the natives

Meaning of mellow

adjective Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.
adjective Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.
adjective Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.

Full definition of mellow

Questions about mellow in a sentence

How do you use mellow in a sentence?: Mellow is used as an adjective, noun and verb. For example: “The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.”
What is a short sentence with mellow?: “a mellow apple”
What does mellow mean?: Mellow means soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

Adapted from Wiktionary: mellow (page history and authors) and the entries each sentence comes from. Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws chose the sentences, left out offensive ones and quotations older than 1900, and marked the word in each. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this page: “How to use mellow in a sentence.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/sentences/mellow. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.