sepia

[ see-pee-uh ]
See synonyms for sepia on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a brown pigment obtained from the inklike secretion of various cuttlefish and used with brush or pen in drawing.

  2. a drawing made with this pigment.

  1. a dark brown.

  2. Photography. a print or photograph made in this color.

  3. any of several cuttlefish of the genus Sepia, producing a dark fluid used naturally for defense and, by humans, in ink.

adjective
  1. of a brown, grayish brown, or olive brown similar to that of sepia ink.

Origin of sepia

1
1560–70; <Latin sēpia cuttlefish, its secretion <Greek sēpía; akin to sêpsissepsis

Other words from sepia

  • se·pi·a·like, adjective
  • se·pic [see-pik, sep-ik], /ˈsi pɪk, ˈsɛp ɪk/, adjective

Words Nearby sepia

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use sepia in a sentence

  • We were, apparently, a beacon in that sepia waste where modern undersea monsters were lurking.

    A Traveller in War-Time | Winston Churchill
  • Four, five or six eggs are laid; these are of a pale greenish-blue hue, speckled or flaked with sepia markings.

  • Fanning the bills out like a hand of cards he stared at their sepia and gold faces, trying to get the reality through his head.

    Deathworld | Harry Harrison
  • Aquatint, a method of etching on copper by which a beautiful effect is produced, resembling a fine drawing in sepia or Indian ink.

  • Whistler showed him "several examples done with the brush in sepia, in old French or Spanish styles," whatever this may mean.

    The Life of James McNeill Whistler | Elizabeth Robins Pennell

British Dictionary definitions for sepia

sepia

/ (ˈsiːpɪə) /


noun
  1. a dark reddish-brown pigment obtained from the inky secretion of the cuttlefish

  2. any cuttlefish of the genus Sepia

  1. a brownish tone imparted to a photograph, esp an early one such as a calotype. It can be produced by first bleaching a print (after fixing) and then immersing it for a short time in a solution of sodium sulphide or of alkaline thiourea

  2. a brownish-grey to dark yellowish-brown colour

  3. a drawing or photograph in sepia

adjective
  1. of the colour sepia or done in sepia: a sepia print

Origin of sepia

1
C16: from Latin: a cuttlefish, from Greek; related to Greek sēpein to make rotten

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012