maroon

UK: /məˈruːn/ US: /məˈrun/ ,(mə ro̅o̅n′)

WordReference Random House Learner's Dictionary of American English © 2026

ma•roon¹ /məˈrun/   n. [uncountable]

1. a dark brownish red color.

adj. 

2. of the color maroon.

ma•roon² /məˈrun/   v. [~ + object* usually be + ~-ed]

1. to put ashore and abandon on an isolated island or coast:
   was marooned on an island.

WordReference Random House Unabridged Dictionary of American English © 2026

ma•roon¹  (mə ro̅o̅n′), adj. 

1. dark brownish-red.
2. British Terms [Chiefly Brit.]
   • a loudly exploding firework consisting of a cardboard container filled with gunpowder.
   • a similar firework used as a danger or warning signal, as by railway brakemen.

• Upper Italian (Tuscan marrone), perh. ultimately derivative of pre-Latin *marr- stone
• French marron literally, chestnut, Middle French
• 1585–95

ma•roon²  (mə ro̅o̅n′), v.t. 

1. to put ashore and abandon on a desolate island or coast by way of punishment or the like, as was done by buccaneers.
2. to place in an isolated and often dangerous position:
   The rising floodwaters marooned us on top of the house.
3. to abandon and leave without aid or resources:
   Having lost all his money, he was marooned in the strange city.

n. 

4. (often cap) any of a group of blacks, descended from fugitive slaves of the 17th and 18th centuries, living in the West Indies and Guiana, esp. in mountainous areas.
5. a person who is marooned:
   Robinson Crusoe lived for years as a maroon.

• American Spanish cimarrón wild (see cimarron); first used in reference to domestic animals that escaped into the woods, later to fugitive slaves
• French mar(r)on, apparently
• 1660–70

Collins Concise English Dictionary © HarperCollins Publishers::

maroon / məˈruːn/ verb (transitive)

1. to leave ashore and abandon, esp on an island
2. to isolate without resources

noun

1. a descendant of a group of runaway slaves living in the remoter areas of the Caribbean or Guyana

Etymology: 17th Century (applied to fugitive slaves): from American Spanish cimarrón wild, literally: dwelling on peaks, from Spanish cima summit

maroon / məˈruːn/ noun

1. a dark red to purplish-red colour
2. (as adjective): a maroon carpet
3. an exploding firework, esp one used as a warning signal

Etymology: 18th Century: from French, literally: chestnut, marron¹