complected

[ kuhm-plek-tid ]

adjective
  1. complexioned (usually used in combination): a light-complected boy.

Origin of complected

1
1800–10, Americanism;complect- (back formation from complexion, presumably taken as *complection) + -ed3

usage note For complected

Complected, a back formation from complexion, is an Americanism dating from the early 19th century. Although it has been criticized by some as a dialectal or nonstandard substitution for complexioned, it occurs in the speech of educated persons and occasionally in edited writing.

Words Nearby complected

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How to use complected in a sentence

  • He was a likely-lookin' chap enough, but very dark-complected an' sallow-like, with a bad eye, showin' a lot o' the white.

    Earth's Enigmas | Charles G. D. Roberts
  • Oh, it was that old brown-complected fellow, said the carpenter.

    The Snow-Burner | Henry Oyen
  • Mine was that I would marry a dark-complected man who was very wealthy, and I would go across water to live.

    Anne Of Green Gables | Lucy Maud Montgomery
  • The Slav folk down in the shanties by the post road are about the only light-complected ones in this neighborhood.

    The Thing from the Lake | Eleanor M. Ingram
  • Let them dig alongside the but slightly darker complected baker and hotel waiter.

    An Artilleryman's Diary | Jenkin Lloyd Jones

British Dictionary definitions for complected

complected

/ (kəmˈplɛktɪd) /


adjective
  1. (in combination) a US dialect word for complexioned

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