Showing results for "red"

• a variation of redd.

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• red
  red

  noun

  any of various colors resembling the color of blood; the primary color at one extreme end of the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 610 and 780 nanometers.
• Red
  Red

  noun

  a male or female given name.
• red-
  red-

  variant of re- before a vowel or h in some words.
• -red
  -red

  a native English suffix, denoting condition, formerly used in the formation of nouns.

red

¹ American  

[red] / rɛd /

noun

• reds
  plural

1. any of various colors resembling the color of blood; the primary color at one extreme end of the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 610 and 780 nanometers.

2. something red.

3. Older Slang: Usually Disparaging. Often Red a radical leftist in politics, especially a Communist.

4. Informal. red light.

5. Informal. red wine.

   a glass of red.

6. Also called red devil, red bird, red doll. Slang. a capsule of the drug secobarbital, usually red in color.

   He was caught with a half dozen reds in the bottom of his pack of cigarettes.

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adjective

• redder,
  comparative
• reddest
  superlative

1. of the color red; of or like the color of blood.

   a red rose.

2. reddish purple in color.

   red wine made from purple grapes.

3. orange, golden brown, or reddish brown in color.

   red hair.

4. having distinctive areas or markings of red.

   a red robin.

5. bloodshot.

   red eyes from allergies.

6. (of the face) flushed or blushing, as from shame.

   cheeks red with embarrassment.

7. of or indicating a state of financial loss or indebtedness.

   the red column in the ledger.

8. Politics. relating to, supporting, or belonging to the Republican Party in the United States; Republican.

   This is big news in that it flips a red Senate seat to blue.

9. Older Slang: Usually Disparaging.

   1. radically left politically.

   2. Often Red communist.

      Red China.

10. Older Use: Disparaging and Offensive. relating to, noting, or characteristic of North American Indian peoples.

idioms

1. see red, to become very angry; become enraged.

   Snobs make her see red.

2. paint the town red. paint.

3. in the red, operating at a loss or being in debt (opposed to in the black).

   The newspaper strike put many businesses in the red.

red ² American  

[red] / rɛd /

verb (used with object)

red, redding

1. redd.

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Red ³ American  

[red] / rɛd /

noun

1. a male or female given name.

2. a nickname typically given to someone with red hair.

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red- ⁴ American  

1. variant of re- before a vowel or h in some words.

   redintegrate.

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-red ⁵ American  

1. a native English suffix, denoting condition, formerly used in the formation of nouns.

   hatred; kindred.

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red ¹ British  

/ rɛd /

noun

1. any of a group of colours, such as that of a ripe tomato or fresh blood, that lie at one end of the visible spectrum, next to orange, and are perceived by the eye when light in the approximate wavelength range 740–620 nanometres falls on the retina. Red is the complementary colour of cyan and forms a set of primary colours with blue and green

2. a pigment or dye of or producing these colours

3. red cloth or clothing

   dressed in red

4. a red ball in snooker, billiards, etc

5. (in roulette and other gambling games) one of two colours on which players may place even bets, the other being black

6. Also called: inner. archery a red ring on a target, between the blue and the gold, scoring seven points

7. informal in debit; owing money

8. informal to become very angry

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adjective

1. of the colour red

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

   red hair

   red deer

3. having the face temporarily suffused with blood, being a sign of anger, shame, etc

4. (of the complexion) rosy; florid

5. (of the eyes) bloodshot

6. (of the hands) stained with blood, as after committing murder

7. bloody or violent

   red revolution

8. (of wine) made from black grapes and coloured by their skins

9. denoting the highest degree of urgency in an emergency; used by the police and the army and informally (esp in the phrase red alert )

10. relating to, supporting, or representing the Republican Party Compare blue

verb

1. another word for redden

Red ² British  

/ rɛd /

adjective

1. Communist, Socialist, or Soviet

2. radical, leftist, or revolutionary

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noun

1. a member or supporter of a Communist or Socialist Party or a national of a state having such a government, esp the former Soviet Union

2. a radical, leftist, or revolutionary

red ³ British  

/ rɛd /

verb

1. (tr) a variant spelling of redd 1

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red More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing red

• catch red-handed
• in the red
• not worth a dime (red cent)
• paint the town red
• see red

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• redness
  noun
• redly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• reds
  plural

Adjectives

• redder
  comparative
• reddest
  superlative

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Etymology

Origin of red¹

First recorded before 900; Middle English red, Old English rēad; cognate with German rot, Dutch rood, Old Norse raudhr, Latin rūfus, ruber, Greek erythrós; see rubella, rufescent, erythro-

Origin of -red⁵

Middle English -rede, Old English -rǣden

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Explanation

The color red is a primary hue found at the end of the spectrum. You might turn red with embarrassment. It also represents financial loss, as in the term "red ink." The word red goes back to before 900, and we can see its roots in the Old English rēad. The idea of red as a signal to stop came in 1849. The color has been associated with rebellion as far back as the 13th Century, and in 1917, the Russian Bolsheviks adopted the color as their symbol. When the movement became the political party of Communism, the members became known as "Reds."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

red Red red- -red reds redder reddest redding

The law was relaxed at the start of this season to say not all hair pulling should be a red card, after three players were sent off last season.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Tech stocks in China and Hong Kong fared relatively better but were also in the red.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

The Moneyish examines the red flags and weighs in on what she should do the next.

From MarketWatch ● Nov. 6, 2026

The study, titled "Heme signatures in mineralized red blood cells within vascular canals of a 115- million-year-old dinosaur bone," was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

From Science Daily ● Nov. 6, 2026

Whether you're a brain surgeon or a sixth-grader, the first time you see the Brainvox image of Phineas's head with that red bar through it, you wince.

From "Phineas Gage" by John Fleischman

Bastiaan van Blokland from the Netherlands Red Cross said the crossing was "unusual"

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

Since then, Ferrari, McLaren and Red Bull have all had their time in the sun, and out of the past 12 races, Mercedes have won six, Red Bull three, McLaren two and Ferrari one.

From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026

It sailed through the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandeb Strait.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 6, 2026

It is unclear what, if anything, could prompt these nations to agree to an offensive mission against the Houthis, particularly as the militants continue to threaten shipping in the Red Sea.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026

And in the Moon of Red Willow he rides highest, and evil is strongest.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

Officials are also continuing to monitor coastal homes that were red- and yellow-tagged during the weekend onslaught.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 12, 2026

As Mr. Haskell kept watching, a flock of rainbow lorikeets, in their blue-, red-, orange- and green-feathered glory, blew in, “like windblown confetti,” chasing off the figbirds.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026

Then the Grulla students ran onto the stage to join their friends, and red- and blue-clad mariachis embraced each other joyously.

From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022

The ECB also hopes a revised schedule will allow a greater balance between red- and white-ball cricket, produce higher-quality matches, and ease the strain on players' workloads.

From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2022

But he could see the weary Irish face, the red- nose leprechaun.

From "The Killer Angels: The Classic Novel of the Civil War" by Michael Shaara

Veterans proudly wore the distinctive berets of their old regiments -red for the Colonials recruited overseas, blue for paratroopers of Metropolitan France, green for Foreign Legionnaires.

From Time Magazine Archive

But seasoned leaf-peepers know that Virginia’s Shenandoah National Park and Shenandoah Valley are equally majestic places for autumn color, thanks to sugar maples, magnolias and more vegetation that erupts in fiery reds, oranges and yellows.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 27, 2026

The right map above illustrates that shift, with lighter reds and blues showing much smaller rates of change during that decade.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026

But why can reds and greys not live cheek by jowl?

From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026

"Today I see a boom in Ukrainian wineries," he said, noting that from full-bodied reds in the south to the crisp whites of the west, "our terroirs and climate are incredibly diverse".

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

The probability of red on the next spin is 18/38, the same as the conditional probability of red on the next spin given that there have been five consecutive reds.

From "Innumeracy: Mathematical Illiteracy and Its Consequences" by John Allen Paulos

As a galaxy moves away, its light is stretched toward redder wavelengths in the electromagnetic spectrum.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

As Arizona yielded to New Mexico, the dirt seemed to get redder and the ridges rose to form buttes.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025

He got redder and redder in the face, yelling and leading the crowd in chants of “Shame on Sliwa!”

From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2025

But even some humans can perceive infrared, and when exposed to longer wavelength infrared light in particular ways, may perceive a pale green or slightly redder color.

From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2024

He puts his clothes back on, cheeks even redder than they had been.

From "X: A Novel" by Ilyasah Shabazz

At the other end of the color spectrum, the astronomers identified another extraordinary white dwarf that may be the reddest star ever documented.

From Science Daily ● Oct. 19, 2026

And for the open seat in Iowa, Democrats seem likely to nominate a two-time Paralympic gold medalist who represents the reddest state house seat held by a Democrat.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 20, 2026

After his first few days on set, he returned to his dressing room to find an enormous bouquet of, as he put it, “the biggest and reddest roses I’ve seen in my life.”

From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2024

And with mass production also came newfound competition amongst farmers to see who could bear the most beautiful — in this case, the reddest — apples possible.

From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2023

After a while, I noticed that as I was busy picking the capulfs, Matilde was choosing the ripest, reddest, biggest ones from the pile and popping them into her mouth.

From "The Queen of Water" by Laura Resau

Mrs. Truman was redding up her rambling, 80-year-old home at 219 North Delaware St. in Independence.

From Time Magazine Archive

As Iran's young Shah came to power 20,000 Russian troops were camped outside Teheran, redding up their tanks for a triumphal entry into the city.

From Time Magazine Archive

‘You have been redding up the garret again!’

From Margaret Ogilvy by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

That is what she did, and furthermore she left the room guiltily, muttering something about redding up the drawers. 

From Margaret Ogilvy by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie

He that middles wi' tulzies may come in for the redding stroke.

From The Proverbs of Scotland by Alexander Hislop

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