COLORATION

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does coloration mean? 

• COLORATION (noun)
  The noun COLORATION has 3 senses:

1. the timbre of a musical sound

2. appearance with regard to color

3. choice and use of colors (as by an artist)

  Familiarity information: COLORATION used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COLORATION (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

The timbre of a musical sound

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

color; coloration; colour; colouration

Context example:

the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music

Hypernyms ("coloration" is a kind of...):

quality; timber; timbre; tone ((music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound))

Sense 2

Meaning:

Appearance with regard to color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

coloration; colouration

Context example:

her healthy coloration

Hypernyms ("coloration" is a kind of...):

color; coloring; colour; colouring (a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "coloration"):

hair coloring (coloring of the hair)

pigmentation (coloration of living tissues by pigment)

depigmentation (absence or loss of pigmentation (or less than normal pigmentation) in the skin or hair)

protective coloration (coloration making an organism less visible or attractive to predators)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Choice and use of colors (as by an artist)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Synonyms:

coloration; colouration

Hypernyms ("coloration" is a kind of...):

choice; option; pick; selection (the act of choosing or selecting)

Derivation:

color (add color to)

color (decorate with colors)

 Context examples 

An unusual or extreme paleness, state of decreased skin or mucosal coloration.

(Pallor, NCI Thesaurus)

They are water-soluble plant pigments that exhibit bright coloration.

(Anthocyanin, NCI Thesaurus)

The research showed the same area of the genome that controlled the coloration of the wings was responsible for defining a sexual preference for those same wing patterns.

(Butterflies are genetically wired to choose a mate that looks just like them, University of Cambridge)

For example, if females usually lay three eggs and their partners help raise the young, but a male with increased blue coloration causes his mate to lay four eggs, blue males would have more offspring than duller males, so blue males would become increasingly common over generations.

(For species that mate for life, bonding behaviors provide advantages, National Science Foundation)

Changing the coloration over its skill is an active process that requires the octopus to activate specific bundles of neurons, and depends on a complex array of nerves and muscles controlling the expansion and contraction of the pigment sacs.

(Octopuses can dream, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)