Word.ws English Dictionary

How to use tan in a sentence

40 example sentences · noun, adjective, verb

Tan means a light, brown-like colour. Example: “She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.”

Examples of tan by meaning

nounA darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.

  • She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.
  • I'm hoping to get a tan this weekend at the beach.

adjectiveYellowish-brown.

  • a tan suit
  • Mine is the white car parked next to the tan pickup truck.

adjectiveHaving dark skin as a result of exposure to the sun or an artificial process intended to mimic this effect.

  • You’re looking very tan this week.

verbTo change to a tan colour due to exposure to the sun.

  • No matter how long I stay out in the sun, I never tan, though I do burn.

More sentences with tan

  • Due to his sunbathing, Jim's body experienced modifications: he got a tan.From the entry modification
  • This bird species has tan underparts. Try to catch a glimpse when the bird takes off.From the entry underpart
  • I wouldn't say that she was tanned, but there was a certain tannishness about her.From the entry tannishness
  • His sunglasses left a tan line around his eyes.From the entry tan line
  • He was wearing a gray newsboy and a tan jacket.From the entry newsboy
  • Her bronzy tan spoke of hours spent in the sun.From the entry bronzy
  • Not only did the Dublin barkeeps not make a shamrock in the foam, they claimed to not even know what a black and tan was.From the entry black and tan
  • I went to the beach to look at the sunbathers, at least some of whom went there to be looked at while they worked on their tans.From the entry sunbather
  • I'd go with friends, we'd play loud music, lift weights and get tanned.2021 August 22, Michael Segalov, quoting Joel Dommett, “Sunday with Joel Dommett: ‘In bed until 10am if I'm feeling fruity'”, in The…. From the entry box
  • Much of this means looking hairier, more tanned and visibly older.2021 November 22, Stephen Yang, “Yassification: Contestation of the Extremes and the Binaries”, in The Cornell Daily Sun, Ithaca, N.Y.…. From the entry yassify
  • Deadgrass is a rather unromantic description for a brown coat with dull grayish tan mixed in.2021 July 28, Karen Harris, The Complete Guide to Chesapeake Bay Retrievers: Training, Socializing, Feeding, Exercising, Caring for, and…. From the entry deadgrass
  • "To begin with, we'll tan the hide of that peasant in the European style.2020 October 27, Andrzej Sapkowski, “In which Scharley Makes an Appearance”, in David French, transl., The Tower of Fools (The Hussite…. From the entry mi-parti
  • He taunted Trump over his made-in-China ties and his spray tan.2016 February 29, Ron Fournier, “How to Bully a Bully”, in The Atlantic, archived from the original on 05 Jul 2016. From the entry spray tan
  • She stands and stretches again, flashing her tanned midriff and her belly ring as her T-shirt lifts.2010, Rebecca James, Beautiful Malice, Bantam Books, published 2010, →ISBN, page 54. From the entry belly ring
  • Tans wondered why a U.S. government “minder”, reminiscent of Iraq under Saddam Hussein, was required.2008, Poor George's Almanac: A 2008 Calendar, →ISBN, page 101. From the entry minder
  • Del's wife, Gloria, was a slim blonde, getting on into middle age, but tan as a beachgirl.2004, Vincent Bugliosi, Till Death Us Do Part: A True Murder Mystery, →ISBN, page 87. From the entry beachgirl
  • Calf heads were tanned from yearling calves less than a year in age.2001, ed. Rob Cook, The Making of a Drum Company, Hal Leonard, published 2001, page 53. From the entry slunk
  • The B-52 Stratofortress is not called the Buff because it is painted a tan or dun-brown color.1994, Frederick Forsyth, The Fist of God: [a novel], page 377. From the entry buff
  • Leather, badly tanned, is susceptible to deterioration from inherent vice induced by poor quality manufacturing.1988 February 21, Thomas C. Albro II, “Books and their Enemies Caring for your Library”, in Washington Post, retrieved 17 Jul 2015. From the entry inherent vice
  • Barrett saw no tan line as the pants pulled high on her bottom.1988, Irene Wanner, Sailing to Corinth: A short story collection, page 66. From the entry skinny diving
  • Life in the open air had made him as tanned and weather-beaten as a sertanejo.1984, Mario Vargas Llosa, translated by Helen R. Lane, The War of the End of the World, Folio Society, published 2012, page 239. From the entry sertanejo
  • Nat slipped his right hand into the pocket of his tan poplin windbreaker to reassure himself.1982, Lewis Perdue, Queens Gate Reckoning, Pinnacle Books, →ISBN, page 2. From the entry ultrasilent
  • Most have a rather "blendy" look in soft tans, olive-tans and grays.1963, Men's Wear, volume 147, page 39. From the entry blendy
  • A duocolor scheme, a combination of wine and light tan, is used as a decorative effect.1948, Gas Appliance Merchandising, volume 20, page 33. From the entry duocolor
  • She was wearing tan today, with a ruffled jabot at her throat.1944, Raymond Chandler, The Lady in the Lake, Penguin, published 2011, page 136. From the entry jabot
  • Deadgrass takes in any shade of deadgrass, varying from a tan to a dull straw color.1935, G. H. Watt, Sporting Dogs: The Breeds and Standards as Recognized by the American Kennel Club, American Kennel Club. From the entry deadgrass
  • We have these in black, tan, Burgundy, smoke, pearl gray and purple.1912 November 8, Linn & Scruggs, “Sensational Bargains in Hosiery”, in The Decatur Herald, volume 32, number 35, Decatur, Ill., →OCLC…. From the entry burgundy
  • Ardent suns had likewise tanned his face till it was swarthy as a Spaniard's.1912, Jack London, chapter 1, in A Son Of The Sun. From the entry incongruous
  • Her fake tan is a nut brown, her dye-job is much too dark, and her teeth are stained.2020, Eliza Clark, chapter 1, in Boy Parts, Influx Press, →ISBN. From the entry dye-job
  • It has tan undertones and a cool bluish cast.2018 February 13, Katy Kelleher, “Eau de Nil, the Light-Green Color of Egypt-Obsessed Europe”, in The Paris Review. From the entry eau de nil
  • She is tan and beautiful in a modelish way and Duane is crazy about her and they travel a lot.2014, Garrison Keillor, The Keillor Reader, →ISBN. From the entry modelish
  • Even Obama’s sensationally tan suit was almost able (but not quite) to ’break the Internet,’ according to Shape magazine.”2014, Charlotte Alter, “What Does It Mean to 'Break the Internet'?”, in Time. From the entry break the internet
  • Art nodded to me as he sat down, his toothbrushy white crew-cut standing in stark contrast to his deeply tanned skin.2010, Derek Gentry, Here Comes Your Man. From the entry toothbrushy
  • For starters, thin me tanned easily and didn't have a forehead so wide it was called a fivehead.2009 October 13, Stephanie Klein, Moose: A Memoir of Fat Camp, HarperCollins, →ISBN, →OL, page 196. From the entry fivehead

Meaning of tan

  1. noun A light, brown-like colour.
  2. noun A darkening of the skin resulting from exposure to sunlight or similar light sources.
  3. noun The bark of an oak or other tree from which tannic acid is obtained.

Full definition of tan

Questions about tan in a sentence

How do you use tan in a sentence?
Tan is used as a noun, adjective and verb. For example: “She still has a tan from her vacation in Mexico.”
What is a short sentence with tan?
“a tan suit”
What does tan mean?
Tan means a light, brown-like colour.

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: tan (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.

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