Advertisement - Continue reading below

Definition of "roan" [roan]

  • Having a chestnut, bay, or sorrel coat thickly sprinkled with white or gray: a roan horse. (adjective)
  • The characteristic coloring of a roan horse. (noun)
  • A roan horse or other animal. (noun)
  • A soft flexible sheepskin leather, often treated to resemble morocco and used in bookbinding. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Use "roan" in a sentence
  • "The diadem perched on coils of hair, trapped between gold and red, the color of the horses they call roan."
  • "That was understandable enough in a lover of good horseflesh, for the roan was a handsome animal and clearly from stock of excellent quality."
  • "The third, had it been a horse, might have been described as a roan, the whole body being a pale reddish-brown, with a sprinkling of real white hairs on the back."