: a phenomenon of light (such as red, brown, pink, or gray) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects
b(1)
: the aspect of the appearance of objects and light sources that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation (see saturationsense 4) for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light sources
the changing color of the sky
also: a specific combination of hue, saturation, and lightness or brightness
comes in six colors
(2)
: a color other than and as contrasted with black, white, or gray
c
colors plural: clothing of a bright (see brightentry 1 sense 4) color : clothing that is neither dark nor light in color
Wash your colors separately from your darks and lights.
: two or more hues employed in a medium of presentation
movies in color
b
: the use or combination of colors
4
: skin pigmentation other than and especially darker than what is considered characteristic of people typically defined as white (see whiteentry 1 sense 2a)
The charges … allege that the social network discriminates based on color … Shawn Knight
—often used with of
… the policy of treating youthful offenders as adults falls most heavily on those of color. Kristin Choo
: analysis of game action or strategy, statistics and background information on participants, and often anecdotes provided by a sportscaster to give variety and interest to the broadcast of a game or contest
Noun The color of blood is red. What color are your eyes? What color paint shall we use? Blue and green are my favorite colors. The pillows are all different colors. The room needs more color. In early summer the garden is full of color. She added color to her outfit with a bright scarf. His eyes were bluish-green in color. She's using a new lip color. Verb We colored the water with red ink. The children were busy coloring in their coloring books. My nephew colored a picture for me. The child colored the sky blue and the sun yellow. See More
Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
Its most notable feature are front seats that differ in color from the rear seats. Tribune News Service, cleveland, 10 Sep. 2022 The first photo is black-and-white while the following snaps are in color, showing that the confetti is blue. Angela Andaloro, Peoplemag, 9 Sep. 2022 Afterward, the grapes lay there for two weeks, caramelizing under the sun and turning golden-amber in color, before finally being pressed at the winery. Jess Lander, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 Sep. 2022 The new footage, taken during a 2022 OceanGate expedition to the Titanic, gives viewers a glimpse of the vessel in vivid color, revealing the ship’s bow, portside anchor, hull and massive anchor chain. Michelle Harris, Smithsonian Magazine, 6 Sep. 2022 For spring, skip blue denim and try out the trend in color with green, yellow or orange. Jamila Stewart, Essence, 1 Sep. 2022 The Yodygaga Ribbed Seamless Yoga set is the kind of item that your favorite TikToker probably owns in every color. Elizabeth Djinis, SELF, 31 Aug. 2022 The Emerald is perfect, intense in color, fascinating in its inclusions. Evan Nicole Brown, The Hollywood Reporter, 31 Aug. 2022 The clams typically have an outer shell that is yellow-green in color with white spots, and an inner shell that is purple. Emily Mae Czachor, CBS News, 29 Aug. 2022
Verb
Shepherd’s show will make its debut Sept. 12, and at least a few involved worry that the demise of Williams’ show could color her successor’s entrance. Lacey Rose, The Hollywood Reporter, 22 Aug. 2022 Gruman, who has two children, is eyeing it to create a dedicated place where her kids can color. Lindsey M. Roberts, Washington Post, 18 Aug. 2022 Kim said small businesses are the risk takers, rebels and people who color outside the lines and create change. Sean Mcdonnell, cleveland, 28 July 2022 The work that creatives do, both on screen and off, help color our understanding of our communities and the world at large. Angelique Jackson, Variety, 20 July 2022 The directorial directive seems to be: Go nuts… but, actually, please just color within the lines. A.a. Dowd, Rolling Stone, 9 May 2022 Working with Indeed, Floyd had access to production and post-production professionals, which afforded him the opportunity to color correct and craft sound design in a studio setting. Addie Morfoot, Variety, 16 June 2022 Given a certain number of colors at your disposal, there are many ways to color the graph.Quanta Magazine, 5 July 2022 Whether that legislation passes, and in what form, could largely color how advocates view progress on environmental initiatives in 2022, said Robin Clark, a Maryland staff attorney with the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Scott Dance, Baltimore Sun, 28 Mar. 2022 See More
Word History
Etymology
Noun
Middle English colour, borrowed from Anglo-French, going back to Latin color, earlier colōs "color as a physical phenomenon, pigment, complexion, appearance," probably, assuming an original meaning "covering, outermost layer, appearance," going back to *ḱel-ōs, collective derivative from an Indo-European s-stem *ḱel-os "covering" (whence perhaps Sanskrit śaras- "skin on boiled milk, cream" and, from a thematic derivative, Old High German hulisa "hull of a legume"), derivative of a verbal base *ḱel- "cover, conceal" — more at conceal
Verb
Middle English colouren, borrowed from Anglo-French colurer, going back to Latin colōrāre, derivative of colorcolor entry 1