ni·gres·cence

(nī-grĕs′əns)

1. The process of becoming black or dark.

2. Blackness or darkness, as of complexion.

[From nigrescent, blackish, from Latin nigrēscēns, nigrēscent-, present participle of nigrēscere, to become black, from niger, nigr-, black; see nek^w-t- in Indo-European roots.]

ni·gres′cent adj.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

nigrescence

the process of becoming black; blackness, as of the skin. — nigrescent, adj.

See also: Blackening and Blackness

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References in periodicals archive

On the contrary, after the perceived rejection by Mariah's maid, Lucy refuses her particular model of negrescence ("the melodies of her song were shallow, and the words, to me, were meaningless") and adopts a defensive Caribbeanity ("I burst into a calypso about a girl who ran away to Port-of-Spain, Trinidad, and had a good time, with no regrets").

Gender, conflict, and community in Gayl Jones's Corregidora and Jamaica Kincaid's Lucy

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