colorist

American  

[kuhl-er-ist] / ˈkʌl ər ɪst /

noun

1. a person who uses color skillfully.

2. a painter who emphasizes color relationships in a work of art.

3. a person who colors photographs.

4. a hairdresser who is skilled in coloring coloring or tinting hair.

5. a musical performer or composer who is skilled in bringing musical color.

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Other Word Forms

• coloristic adjective
• coloristically adverb

Etymology

Origin of colorist

1680–90; color + -ist; compare French coloriste

Example Sentences

In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Bessette’s former hair colorist, Brad Johns, reflected on the wig’s hair color as “burnt” and ashy.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 12, 2026

Hernández is a brilliant colorist, the vivid hues sometimes functioning in suggestive symbolic mode while always reveling in pure decorative joy.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 16, 2024

And they show off Agar’s brilliance as a colorist — which was unusual for her generation of British artists — and perhaps indebted to Matisse.

From New York Times • Feb. 5, 2024

It hired five barbers and colorists, compared with the lone barber and colorist from 2017.

From Seattle Times • Mar. 14, 2023

The colorist, it is true, does not produce or judge of color by rule.

From The Painter in Oil A complete treatise on the principles and technique necessary to the painting of pictures in oil colors by Parkhurst, Daniel Burleigh