mellow

CEFRB2

/ˈmɛləʊ/

adjective · verb

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    adjective

    Calm, gentle, and relaxed.

  2. 02

    verb

    To become calmer, softer, or less strong.

Examples

  • Like good wine, women mellow when they age.

  • She has got a mellow, round voice.

At a glance

Sits at B2 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
2
Citations
5
Synonyms
5

Also pronounced

  • /ˈmɛloʊ/

Deep Dive

adjective

Extra meanings

  1. Matured and smooth, and not acidic, harsh, or sharp.

  2. Soft and easily penetrated or worked; not hard or rigid; loamy.

  3. Soft or tender by reason of ripeness; having a tender pulp.

More examples

In context

  • The mellow sounds of the Rhodes piano are partly responsible for thousands of accidental conceptions.

  • The fervour of early feeling is tempered and mellowed by the ripeness of age.

  • a mellow apple

Synonyms

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

The aged whiskey's taste was blank and smooth, unlike the sharp burn of new spirits.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

adjective

The adjective is derived from Late Middle English melowe, melwe (“ripe, mellow; juicy; sweet”) [and other forms]; further etymology uncertain, possibly: * from an attributive use of melow, melowe, melewe, mele (“meal from ground grain or legumes; flour; kernel of barley or lentils”) [and other forms], from Old English melo, melu (“meal (edible part of a grain or pulse); flour”), from Proto-Germanic *melwą (“ground corn; meal; flour”), from Proto-Indo-European *melh₂- (“to crush; to grind”); or * a variant of Middle English merow, merowe, meruw (“soft, tender; of a person: frail; of love: unstable, variable”) [and other forms], from Old English meru, mearu (“soft, tender; delicate, frail; ca...