English Dictionary

RUDDY (ruddier, ruddiest)

Pronunciation (US): Play  (GB): Play

IPA (US): 

Irregular inflected forms: ruddier  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation, ruddiest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation

 Dictionary entry overview: What does ruddy mean? 

RUDDY (adjective)
  The adjective RUDDY has 2 senses:

1. inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor lifeplay

2. of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubiesplay

  Familiarity information: RUDDY used as an adjective is rare.


 Dictionary entry details 


RUDDY (adjective)

 Declension: comparative and superlative 
Comparative: ruddier  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation
Superlative: ruddiest  Listen to US pronunciation  Listen to GB pronunciation


Sense 1

Meaning:

Inclined to a healthy reddish color often associated with outdoor life

Synonyms:

florid; rubicund; ruddy; sanguine

Context example:

a fresh and sanguine complexion

Similar:

healthy (having or indicating good health in body or mind; free from infirmity or disease)

Derivation:

ruddiness (a healthy reddish complexion)


Sense 2

Meaning:

Of a color at the end of the color spectrum (next to orange); resembling the color of blood or cherries or tomatoes or rubies

Synonyms:

blood-red; carmine; cerise; cherry; cherry-red; crimson; red; reddish; ruby; ruby-red; ruddy; scarlet

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

Derivation:

ruddiness (a healthy reddish complexion)


 Context examples 


These ruddy spots must be the reflection of fires within the caves—fires which could only be lit by the hand of man.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Von Bork started violently, and his ruddy face turned a shade paler.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

By the door a horse stood tethered, the ruddy glow beating strongly upon his brown head and patient eyes, while his body stood back in the shadow.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Mr. Laurence's ruddy face changed suddenly, and he sat down, with a troubled glance at the picture of a handsome man, which hung over his table.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

These eyes were, perhaps, his strangest feature, for they were of a very clear and beautiful blue, which shone the brighter out of that ruddy setting.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

His age may have been nearer forty than thirty, but his cheeks were so ruddy and his eyes so merry that he still conveyed the impression of a plump and mischievous boy.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I was glad to see her paleness and her illness, for my mind was full of the fresh horror of that ruddy vampire sleep.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Yes; with the right eye I see a glow—a ruddy haze.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

An old man now, but in a ruddy, hearty, strong old age.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The first who entered was a little Ribston pippin of a man, with ruddy cheeks and fluffy white side-whiskers.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)



 Learn English with... Proverbs 
"Don't trudge mud into the house of love." (English proverb)

"Breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince, dine like a pauper." (Maimonides)

"The fruit of silence is tranquility." (Arabic proverb)

"Using a cannon to shoot a mosquito." (Dutch proverb)



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