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Makeup vs Brownface - What's the difference?

makeup | brownface |

As nouns the difference between makeup and brownface

is that makeup is (uncountable) an item's composition while brownface is a style of theatrical makeup in which a white person colours the face brown in order to represent somebody of another race.

makeup

English

Alternative forms

*

Noun

(en-noun)
  • (uncountable) An item's composition.
    • To understand how a nuclear reactor works, we must first look at its makeup .
  • (uncountable) Cosmetics; colorants and other substances applied to the skin to improve its appearance.
    • She is wearing a lot of makeup .
  • (Industry) Replacement; material used to make up for the amount that has been used up.
  • * 2005 , William C. Whitman, William M. Johnson, John A. Tomczyk, Refrigeration & Air Conditioning Technology , page 1208:
    • When the water level drops, the float ball drops with it and opens the valve to the makeup water supply.

    Usage notes

    The alternative spelling make-up is favored by the Oxford Dictionary, and thus is often considered to be British, while makeup, being preferred by Merriam Webster's dictionary, is the generally accepted American spelling. In reference with Jean-Claude Corbeil/Ariane Archambault: Visual Dictionary, Look up a Word from a Picture, Find the Picture from a Word. (New York, USA / Oxford, UK, 1987)

    Hyponyms

    * See also

    References

    brownface

    English

    Noun

    (-)
  • A style of theatrical makeup in which a white person colours the face brown in order to represent somebody of another race.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2007, date=September 2, author=Terrence Rafferty, title=Elmore Leonard’s Men of Few Words, in a Few Words, work=New York Times citation
    • , passage=The problem isn’t so much Lancaster’s unconvincing brownface makeup — though it looks as if it had been applied by the same heavy laborers who blacktopped Laurence Olivier for “Othello” — as it is the extremely un-Leonardian softness of his presence. }}

    Related terms

    * blackface