nigrescent

English

Etymology

From Latin nigrescens, present participle of nigrescere (“to grow black”), from niger (“black”). See negro.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /nɪˈɡɹɛsənt/, /naɪˈɡɹɛsənt/
• Rhymes: -ɛsənt

Adjective

nigrescent (comparative more nigrescent, superlative most nigrescent)

1. Approaching blackness; blackish, dark-coloured. [from 18th c.]
   • 1725, Thesaurus ænigmaticus:

     Pomp of Words Moſt ſplendidly nigrescent

   • 1958, Jefferson Howard Sutton, “Chapter 9”, in First on the Moon‎^[1]:

     At night the temperature is 250 degrees below zero; by day it is the heat of boiling water. Yet the sun is but an intense circle of white aloft in a nigrescent sky.

   • 1980, Gene Wolfe, chapter X, in The Shadow of the Torturer (The Book of the New Sun; 1), New York: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 99:

     [T]he dark death roses came into bloom. I cut them and carried them to Thecla, nigrescent purple flecked with scarlet.

Synonyms

• See Thesaurus:black

Derived terms

• nigrescence

Related terms

• albescent (“becoming white”), erubescent (“becoming red”), flavescent (“becoming yellow”), virescent (“becoming green”)

References

• “nigrescent”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.

Anagrams

• centerings, centreings

Latin

Verb

nigrēscent

1. third-person plural future active indicative of nigrēscō