How to Use sallow in a Sentence

sallow

adjective
  • At this hour—around midday—a sallow daylight filled the room.
    — Literary Hub, 9 Dec. 2025
  • But the birds, distressed, have plucked out all of their feathers, leaving them naked and sallow.
    — Laura Zornosa, Time, 20 Sep. 2022
  • Skin color was not black, observed Roggeveen, but pale yellow or sallow.
    — Literary Hub, 28 Jan. 2026
  • The film is aggressively teal with a sallow greige (gray-beige) overcast.
    — Courtney Howard, Variety, 9 Oct. 2025
  • The colors are really sallow and kind of ugly.
    — Marah Eakin, Vulture, 14 May 2026
  • If the entire plant looks sallow and yellow, give it better nutrition.
    — Leanne Potts, Better Homes & Gardens, 17 Sep. 2025
  • My face had become gaunt and haggard, my sallow skin formed shadows etched beneath my eyes that no amount of makeup could disguise.
    — Emily Listfield, Allure, 8 May 2021
  • His skin’s dark complexion was also tinted a dull yellow, producing the sallow cast of dead grass.
    — Jonathan Reisman, Discover Magazine, 21 Mar. 2016
  • If your complexion feels sallow and dull, opt for a brightening moisturizer like this one.
    — Tatjana Freund, ELLE, 20 Sep. 2022
  • The cold of winter can leave your complexion dry, sallow, and desperate for hydration.
    — Daisy Maldonado, InStyle, 2 Apr. 2026
  • Her father should know, having spent decades hunched over an oak desk in a shipping company’s lightless front room along with a dozen other sallow men.
    — The Editors, Curbed, 26 Apr. 2021
  • The light blue shade counteracts purple and pink tones to cover redness and veins, while the peach shade brightens and corrects sallow-looking skin.
    — Lily Wohlner, Allure, 23 Dec. 2025
  • Many of us know from personal experience that dry skin also often looks dull and sallow, and fine lines can appear more pronounced.
    — Hannah Coates, Vogue, 31 Oct. 2022
  • The elusive purple emperor butterfly has made its home in the acres of sallow trees -- a kind of willow -- that flourish on the estate.
    — Hazel Pfeifer, CNN, 1 Oct. 2020
  • In Shadow and Bone, Alina is depicted as plain (if not homely), with mousy brown hair and pale, sallow skin.
    — Lauren Puckett, Harper's BAZAAR, 30 Apr. 2021
  • Additionally, my under-eyes look less sallow and my wrinkles (one horizontally across the forehead and two laugh lines) are not as deep.
    — Tamim Alnuweiri, InStyle, 20 Jan. 2026
  • His round face, once crimson, had become sallow, and acquired deep lines and wrinkles; his eyes too had become like his father’s, the rims swollen and red, a feature common to most peasants who work by the sea….
    — Leslie T. Chang, The New York Review of Books, 21 Sep. 2022
  • Caffeine, Brazilian ginseng, horse chestnut and light-reflecting particles instantly wake up tired, sallow skin and make for a brighter, smoother under-eye region.
    — Joseph Deacetis, Forbes, 29 Dec. 2021
  • Shortly before Easter in 1144, a young boy named William was found dead in the sallow grass of a heath near the lively center of Norwich, England.
    — John-Paul Pagano, National Review, 23 Sep. 2019
  • There are also a couple shots of an etherial, sallow-skinned man who appears to be operating on Sauron’s behalf — though, again, Tolkien fans know that Sauron is capable of altering his appearance.
    — Adam B. Vary, Variety, 22 July 2022

Some of these examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sallow.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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