1mass noun A natural pigment resembling but darker than ochre, normally dark yellowish-brown in colour (raw umber) or dark brown when roasted (burnt umber).

1. 1.1 Either of the colours of umber.
   as modifier the village is built entirely of crumbling umber limestone

   Example sentencesExamples

   • Cassie can't help turning a deep shade of umber.
   • The paintings seem at first to be sombre in tone, coloured mostly by umbers and sepia-like hues.
   • His work was dominated by the dark colours of umber and ochre.
   • Its outer edges are layered, almost smooth, with mixed colors ranging from saddlebag tan to dark umber.
   • Areas can also be kept just the reddish brown of the sanguine, umber or black, depending on the artist's wishes.
   • This generally quiet area features sun-drenched murals in gold, umber, and burnt red.
   • But there is something easeful and secure about this uncluttered room with its warm umber banquettes.
   • The Earl was wearing a grey pinstripe suit and the Countess a black coat with matching umber scarf, handbag and shoes.
   • This open, umber landscape will be complemented, however, by a complex, labyrinthine village-scape.
   • What was before her was a dying sunset; all of crimson red and burnt umbers.
   • The two forms reach toward the center of the canvas, where a cluster of black tear- or spermlike shapes converge on an umber vortex.
   • Delicately cut, layered slate walls, umbers and the sepia tint curved metal bar place you firmly somewhere in Eastern Europe.
   • Wood grain and parquetry are abbreviated using forceful umber lines.
   • Perhaps eyes painted without black pupils seem ghostly but the painterly dabs of umber tones definitely bring this woman back to earth.
   • Characteristically he painted in thick impasto, mainly with a palette knife and generally in subdued ochre and umber tones.
   • I saw Lady Harcourt turn a rather unattractive shade of umber… she was THAT angry.
   • ‘When I paint a realistic Los Angeles sky, Sanchez says during my visit prior to the event, ‘I use earth colors - usually raw umber and raw sienna.’
   • Poussin perpetuates the convention, which goes back as far as the Pompeian frescoes, of burnished umber men and pearly women.
   • Her dark, umber brown hair was tied up, yet still the long ponytail reached almost four inches over her shoulder.
   • It resembled a five-story, refurbished manor house with umber bricks and large turrets.
   • The air is heavy with the scent of dates and rain, and the umber of the dunes is brilliant against the grim sky.
   • I turned back towards the gate, and in one motion swung myself up to the top, balancing on the apex for just a moment as I glanced back at him, stubborn golden brown eyes meeting equally willful dark umber.
   • It may be added that the dorsal spine shows brightly in the water, forming a conspicuous anterior rime to the dorsal fin, whose remaining margin, in reality of a dark umber, now appears jet-black.
   • The form of the majestic eagle grew dim, flickering blurrily, until superimposed upon it appeared the image of a noble, high-browed elf with hair of dark umber.
   • There was an umber and ozone odor, like lightning striking the loam of a farmer's field.
   • In a tobacco tin after capture, the umber yellow mature newts lost their leopard spots, lay grounded as numb as scrolls of candied grapefruit peel.
   • The face is that of a lady with rich umber hair like smooth piano wire.
   • Across the island, the lush green taro is replaced by the copper and umber striations of Waimea Canyon, the Grand Canyon of the Pacific, whose colors grow red in the late afternoon light.
   • He had umber locks of silky hair and he wore beautiful clothing in the fashion of their culture.
   • Luke let out a breath of relief when Katie was placed in his group, along with a quiet girl with solemn, dark eyes and curly umber hair.
   • Nicolaus had managed to capture the glint of bronze in her deep umber strands.
   • The wall of umber air thins for a span and the city sharpens.
   • His winsome smile brought a sparkle to his umber eyes and caused his cousin to chuckle.
   • The green ring around SurfSea had now changed to hues of yellow and umber: the colours of the fast approaching autumn.
   • He also extended his gamut of colours to include umbers and siennas; transparent oxides as well.
   • We moved cautiously along the rambling hothouse path, peeking over umber birds of paradise and split palm fronds and under deep flowering trees nearly impossible to imagine in the arid climate just outside the glass.
   • Candy sat down next to her, throwing her umber hair over her shoulder dramatically.
   • Methodical studies in a sketchbook show the results of stumbling various colors over a dark red composed of cadmium red and umber.
   • The hats obscure the heads or faces of the men who wear them, which are only loosely suggested by umber wash.
   • As a reaction Jazlyn pulled Peter into a hug, smoothing his umber hair.
   • His hair was an umber mass of spikes, and his eyes were like two chips of obsidian, giving him a somewhat sinister look.
   • Signe searched for Flynn amongst the sea of unknown faces and soon spotted the light grey eyes and umber hair at the head of a table, reserved and calculating as usual.
   • This painting presents another strange, thickly painted beastie, this one a squidlike creature that makes its way through a thinly painted umber field toward ribbons of rainbowlike color.
   • My hair was a deep umber, slicked back in a way that almost resembled ruffled bird feathers, and my face was angular and clean shaven, in stark contrast to the round, softened faces of the three in the diner.
   • However, there is an understain of reddish umber that leaks around the forms and masses.
   • Next season, Madam Oloviah, says it's all about the peaches and burnt umbers.

2A brownish moth with colouring that resembles tree bark.

Several species in the family Geometridae