Maroon Meaning
/məˈɹuːn/Definition, CEFR level B2, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
nounAn escaped black slave of the Caribbean and the Americas or a descendant of such a person.
nounA castaway; a person who has been marooned (abandoned).
Sentence Examples
If the large maroon turtleneck is too big, do you have it in medium?
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mutineers decided to ____ the captain on a deserted tropical island.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was wearing a ____ dress that matched the color of the deep red roses in the beautiful garden tonight.
Word Origin & History
From French marron (“feral; fugitive”, adjective), from Spanish cimarrón (“fugitive, wild, feral”); see that entry for more.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"Further north a Maroon community in the Bahoruco Mountains thrived for eighty-five years, until the French proposed a truce under the terms of which the Maroons would be permitted to form an independent clan."
— 1985, Wade Davis, The Serpent and the Rainbow, Simon & Schuster, page 193:
"Joining others who had escaped before them, they formed communities of Maroons in which many traditional African customs and social mores were preserved."
— 2007, Kevin Filan, The Haitian Vodou Handbook, Destiny Books, page 14:
"In her discussion of Michelle Cliff's Abeng, a novel that historicizes maroon culture and the Jamaican warrior heroine Nanny of the Maroons, Francoise Lionnet examines linguistic “metissage” […]"
— 2002, Cynthia James, The Maroon Narrative: Caribbean Literature in English Across Boundaries, Ethnicities, and Centuries, Heinemann Educational Books:
"Hard-hit by the Arctic winter, the Waverley route was completely closed from January 6-9, when an avalanche between Whitrope and Riccarton marooned Class A2 4-6-2 No. 60535 Hornet's Beauty."
— 1963 April, “Winter on the Waverley”, in Modern Railways, page 281, photo caption:
"After the harrowing stories of being marooned at sea and stranded in the frozen wastelands of Alaska and the Poles, one would think that survival on dry land would be easier […]"
— 2010, Brogan Steele, From the Jaws of Death: Extreme True Adventures of Man vs. Nature, St. Martin's Griffin, →ISBN, page 231:
Explore More B2 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The mutineers decided to ____ the captain on a deserted tropical island.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
She was wearing a ____ dress that matched the color of the deep red roses in the beautiful garden tonight.