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• green
  green

  adjective

  of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.
• Green
  Green

  noun

  Henrietta Howland Robinson Hetty, 1835–1916, U.S. financier.

green

¹ American  

[green] / grin /

adjective

• greener,
  comparative
• greenest
  superlative

1. of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.

   green leaves.

2. covered with herbage or foliage; verdant.

   green fields.

3. characterized by the presence of verdure.

4. made of green vegetables, as lettuce, spinach, endive, or chicory.

   a green salad.

5. not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; unripe; not properly aged.

   This peach is still green.

6. unseasoned; not dried or cured.

   green lumber.

7. immature in age or judgment; untrained; inexperienced.

   a green worker.

8. simple; unsophisticated; gullible; easily fooled.

9. fresh, recent, or new.

   an insult still green in his mind.

10. having a sickly appearance; pale; wan: She was excited and laughing happily when the plane took off, but when her skydiving instructor opened the door at 9,000 feet, her face went positively green with fear.

    You’re looking a little green there—are you going to be sick?

    She was excited and laughing happily when the plane took off, but when her skydiving instructor opened the door at 9,000 feet, her face went positively green with fear.

11. full of life and vigor; young.

    a man ripe in years but green in heart.

12. environmentally sound or beneficial.

    green computers.

13. (of wine) having a flavor that is raw, harsh, and acid, due especially to a lack of maturity.

14. freshly slaughtered or still raw.

    green meat.

15. not fired, as bricks or pottery.

16. (of cement or mortar) freshly set and not completely hardened.

17. Foundry.

    1. (of sand) sufficiently moist to form a compact lining for a mold without further treatment.

    2. (of a casting) as it comes from the mold.

    3. (of a powder, in powder metallurgy) unsintered.

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noun

• greens
  plural

1. a color intermediate in the spectrum between yellow and blue, an effect of light with a wavelength between 500 and 570 nanometers; found in nature as the color of most grasses and leaves while growing, of some fruits while ripening, and of the sea.

2. Art. a secondary color that has been formed by the mixture of blue and yellow pigments.

3. green coloring matter, as paint or dye.

4. 1. green material or clothing.

      to be dressed in green.

   2. Also called Army greens.  greens. a blue-green uniform of the U.S. Army.

5. greens,

   1. fresh leaves or branches of trees, shrubs, etc., used for decoration.

   2. the leaves and stems of plants, as spinach, lettuce, or beets, used as food.

6. grassy land; a plot of grassy ground.

7. a piece of grassy ground constituting a town or village common.

8. Also called putting green.  Golf. the area of closely cropped grass surrounding each hole.

9. bowling green.

10. a shooting range for archery.

11. Informal. green light.

12. Slang. Usually the green money; greenbacks.

    I'd like to buy a new car but I don't have the green.

13. Green, a member of the Green party.

verb (used with or without object)

• greens,
  present (3rd person singular)
• greened,
  past participle,  past
• greening
  present participle

1. to become or make green.

2. Informal. to restore the vitality of.

   Younger executives are greening corporate managements.

idioms

1. green with envy. envy.

2. read the green, to inspect a golf green, analyzing its slope and surface, so as to determine the difficulties to be encountered when putting.

3. green around the gills. gill.

Green ² American  

[green] / grin /

noun

1. Henrietta Howland Robinson Hetty, 1835–1916, U.S. financier.

2. Henry Henry Vincent Yorke, 1905–73, English novelist.

3. John Richard, 1837–83, English historian.

4. Julian, 1900–1998, French writer, born in U.S.

5. Paul Eliot, 1894–1981, U.S. playwright, novelist, and teacher.

6. William, 1873–1952, U.S. labor leader: president of the A.F.L. 1924–52.

7. a river flowing S from W Wyoming to join the Colorado River in SE Utah. 730 miles (1,175 km) long.

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green ¹ British  

/ ɡriːn /

noun

1. any of a group of colours, such as that of fresh grass, that lie between yellow and blue in the visible spectrum in the wavelength range 575–500 nanometres. Green is the complementary colour of magenta and with red and blue forms a set of primary colours

2. a dye or pigment of or producing these colours

3. something of the colour green

4. a small area of grassland, esp in the centre of a village

5. an area of ground used for a purpose

   a putting green

6. (plural)

   1. the edible leaves and stems of certain plants, eaten as a vegetable

   2. freshly cut branches of ornamental trees, shrubs, etc, used as a decoration

7. (sometimes capital) a person, esp a politician, who supports environmentalist issues (see sense 13)

8. slang money

9. slang marijuana of low quality

10. slang (plural) sexual intercourse

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adjective

1. of the colour green

2. greenish in colour or having parts or marks that are greenish

   a green monkey

3. (sometimes capital) concerned with or relating to conservation of the world's natural resources and improvement of the environment

   green policies

   the green consumer

4. vigorous; not faded

   a green old age

5. envious or jealous

6. immature, unsophisticated, or gullible

7. characterized by foliage or green plants

   a green wood

   a green salad

8. fresh, raw, or unripe

   green bananas

9. unhealthily pale in appearance

   he was green after his boat trip

10. denoting a unit of account that is adjusted in accordance with fluctuations between the currencies of the EU nations and is used to make payments to agricultural producers within the EU

    green pound

11. (of pottery) not fired

12. (of meat) not smoked or cured; unprocessed

    green bacon

13. metallurgy (of a product, such as a sand mould or cermet) compacted but not yet fired; ready for firing

14. (of timber) freshly felled; not dried or seasoned

15. (of concrete) not having matured to design strength

verb

1. to make or become green

Green ² British  

/ ɡriːn /

noun

1. Henry, real name Henry Vincent Yorke . 1905–73, British novelist: author of Living (1929), Loving (1945), and Back (1946)

2. John Richard. 1837–83, British historian; author of A Short History of the English People (1874)

3. T ( homas ) H ( ill ). 1836–82, British idealist philosopher. His chief work, Prolegomena to Ethics, was unfinished at his death

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green More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing green

• grass is always greener

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• greenage
  noun
• greenness
  noun
• outgreen
  verb (used with object)
• greenish
  adjective
• greeny
  adjective
• nongreen
  adjective
• ungreened
  adjective
• greenly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• greens
  plural

Adjectives

• greener
  comparative
• greenest
  superlative

Participles

• greening
  present
• greened
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• green
  simple
• greens
  simple
• have greened
  perfect
• has greened
  perfect
• am greening
  progressive
• are greening
  progressive
• is greening
  progressive
• have been greening
  perfect progressive
• has been greening
  perfect progressive

Past

• greened
  simple
• had greened
  perfect
• was greening
  progressive
• were greening
  progressive
• had been greening
  perfect progressive

Future

• will green
  simple
• will have greened
  perfect
• will be greening
  progressive
• will have been greening
  perfect progressive

Etymology

Origin of green

First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English grēne; cognate with German grün; akin to grow

Explanation

Green is a color on the spectrum between blue and yellow, or made by mixing those colors. You might love the brilliant color of the green grass in the spring time. Green is a color you tend to see everywhere in nature, especially in the summer. Grass, trees, and plants are varying shades of green, and so is the lettuce that's used to make "a green salad." Green also means "unripe" as in a tomato, or "inexperienced," as in someone who's new at a job. In the 16th century, Shakespeare coined the phrase "the green-ey'd monster," and since then green has symbolized jealousy or envy.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

green Green greens greener greenest greened greening

Twenty-four minutes later, the tops were craggy, the centers soft and brownie-like, and just enough little green threads remained visible to remind you what season it was.

From Salon ● Aug. 31, 2026

The soft green remains in the primary bedroom, which also features moody fabrics, such as a tapestry hanging on the wall and heavy patterned curtains.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 31, 2026

They moved down to Frisco, Texas, and adopted the name Good Good—the phrase two golfers use on the green to give each other gimme putts.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

After getting the green light, Worthe pulled back, and his permit expired.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026

Legendary stood out in yellow, while the rest of the words buzzed in green, all against a black backdrop.

From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith

Or, if you prefer superheroes: HBO’s new show adapts DC’s Green Lantern comics, but the series offers more than just your typical superhero fare.

From Slate ● Aug. 31, 2026

The Green Bay Packers, the team for which he stars at running back, will have played 11 regular-season games by then.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 31, 2026

Find insight on oil futures, Ithaca Energy, Thailand refineries, Sembcorp Green Infra and more in the latest Market Talks covering Energy and Utilities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 30, 2026

On 22 July, seven days into their 10-day trip, they visited the Green Canyon where they swam, before setting off for visits to a waterfall and zoo.

From BBC ● Aug. 29, 2026

Mr. Green grinned and let out a cheerful snort, which seemed at odds with his gruesome appearance.

From "The Detective's Assistant" by Kate Hannigan

When she learned a colleague could not tell the reds from the greens in a presentation, she stepped in with a colorblind-friendly palette.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026

Guests worried about greens switched to grains and pitas for a period, Tolivar said.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 25, 2026

Nitrate is found naturally in many vegetables, especially beetroot and leafy greens such as spinach, rocket, and lettuce.

From Science Daily ● Aug. 24, 2026

Growing venture capital–backed consumer brands, like Blank Street Coffee and dentist office Tend, traded in neons for pastel greens.

From Slate ● Aug. 21, 2026

It was a gray afternoon, the kind of gray that darkens and deepens the greens of leaves and grasses.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

Until recently, it has been a premium product, a greener alternative to the fish meal that underpins the $300 billion-plus aquaculture industry.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 29, 2026

A side-by-side comparison shows how much greener the fairways appeared in summer 2025 compared with this year.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

But that focus on greener pastures is as persistent as the apparent blood feud between Texas and Tennessee.

From Salon ● Aug. 3, 2026

Programs that encourage employees or customers to adopt greener habits do not appear to weaken support for broader climate action.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

But Hazel was turning greener by the moment.

From "The House of Hades" by Rick Riordan

It ranges from the greenest to the dirtiest, from established technologies to speculative ones, and even includes companies that play tangential roles in the sector.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025

I was behind the wheel of the biggest, meanest, greenest, most American street-legal machine in existence.

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 2025

Despite the greenest possible light, at least one of his 93 NBA field-goal attempts have had to cross Knecht’s “crazy or something like that” threshold, right?

From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2024

We had flown to Kumasi to visit the Department of Painting and Sculpture at KNUST, an expansive campus in the west of the city and probably the greenest university I have ever seen.

From New York Times ● Feb. 5, 2024

I had grown up in the greenest, most beautiful valley on the island.

From "In the Time of the Butterflies" by Julia Alvarez

Secrets of photosynthesis have been discovered at atomic level, shedding important new light on this plant super-power that greened the earth more than a billion years ago.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2024

Some research has found that greening projects are contagious: Neighbors of greened lots start taking better care of their own yards.

From National Geographic ● Dec. 14, 2023

And all the snowmelt has brilliantly greened what’s often a dry, brown tinder box by this time of year.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2023

Olsen told Jackson that you can cut off lightly greened patches and toss any potatoes with large green areas, though you may want to be more conservative when serving children.

From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2022

Week after week, I returned to Iowa, watching through the plane window as the seasons changed, as the earth slowly greened and the soybean and corn crops grew in ruler-straight lines.

From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama

That doesn’t mean cities should avoid urban greening projects.

From Slate ● Aug. 4, 2026

So experts said countries across the region should further insulate energy systems against more frequent disruptive weather events by diversifying and greening their grids.

From Barron's ● May 5, 2026

Her priorities have included early education expansion, school greening improvements, literacy through phonics training, protecting immigrant students and focusing more budget resources on the highest-need schools.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026

Citrus greening disease is caused by a bacterial infection that is delivered by the gnawing of the Asian citrus psyllid.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

Every May brings Atomic Bomb Awareness Month to Camillo Junior High, right after the greening grass and the yellowing forsythia.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• fresh
• grassy
• leafy
• lush
• raw
• tender
• verdant