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• white
  white

  adjective

  of the color of pure snow, of the margins of this page, etc.; reflecting nearly all the rays of sunlight or a similar light.
• White
  White

  noun

  Andrew Dickson, 1832–1918, U.S. diplomat and pioneer of land-grant education.

white

¹ American  

[hwahyt, wahyt] / ʰwaɪt, waɪt /

adjective

• whiter,
  comparative
• whitest
  superlative

1. of the color of pure snow, of the margins of this page, etc.; reflecting nearly all the rays of sunlight or a similar light.

2. light or comparatively light in color.

3. (of human beings) belonging to a group marked by slight pigmentation of the skin, often of European descent.

4. for, limited to, or predominantly made up of white people.

   a white neighborhood.

5. pallid or pale, as from fear or other strong emotion.

   white with rage.

6. silvery, gray, or hoary.

   white hair.

7. snowy.

   a white Christmas.

8. lacking color; transparent.

9. (politically) ultraconservative.

10. blank, as an unoccupied space in printed matter.

    Fill in the white space below.

11. Also called alwite. Armor. composed entirely of polished steel plates without fabric or other covering.

12. wearing white clothing.

    a white monk.

13. Older Use: Offensive. decent, honorable, or dependable.

    That's mighty white of you.

14. auspicious or fortunate.

15. morally pure; innocent.

16. without malice; harmless.

    white magic.

17. (of wines) light-colored or yellowish, as opposed to red.

18. refined or processed, as flour.

19. British. (of coffee) containing milk.

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noun

• whites
  plural

1. a color without hue at one extreme end of the scale of grays, opposite to black. A white surface reflects light of all hues completely and diffusely. Most so-called whites are very light grays: fresh snow, for example, reflects about 80 percent of the incident light, but to be strictly white, snow would have to reflect 100 percent of the incident light. It is the ultimate limit of a series of shades of any color.

2. a hue completely desaturated by admixture with white, the highest value possible.

3. quality or state of being white.

4. lightness of skin pigment.

5. a person with light-colored skin, often of European descent.

6. a white material or substance.

7. the white part of something.

8. Biology. a pellucid viscous fluid that surrounds the yolk of an egg; albumen.

9. the white part of the eyeball.

   He has a speck in the white of his eye.

10. whites,

    1. white or nearly white clothing, as in

    2. top-grade white flour.

11. white wine.

    Graves is a good white.

12. a type or breed that is white in color.

13. Usually whites. a blank space in printing.

14. White. a hog of any of several breeds having a white coat, as a Chester White.

15. Entomology. any of several white-winged butterflies of the family Pieridae, as the common cabbage butterflies.

16. white fabric.

17. Archery.

    1. the outermost ring of the butt.

    2. an arrow that hits this portion of the butt.

    3. the central part of the butt or target, formerly painted white but now painted gold or yellow.

    4. Archaic. a target painted white.

18. Chess, Checkers. the men or pieces that are light-colored.

19. Often White a member of a royalist, conservative, or reactionary political party.

verb (used with object)

whited, whiting

1. Printing.

   1. to make white by leaving blank spaces (often followed byout ).

   2. to whiten (areas of artwork) in retouching preparatory to photoengraving (often followed byout ).

2. Archaic. to make white; whiten.

verb phrase

1. white out

   1. to cover (errors in copy) with a white correction fluid.

   2. to censor, as by obliterating words or passages with white ink.

idioms

1. bleed white, to be or cause to be deprived of all one's resources.

   Dishonesty is bleeding the union white.

2. in the white, in an unfinished state or condition, as furniture wood that has not been stained or varnished.

3. white around the gills. gill.

White ² American  

[hwahyt, wahyt] / ʰwaɪt, waɪt /

noun

1. Andrew Dickson, 1832–1918, U.S. diplomat and pioneer of land-grant education.

2. Byron R(aymond) Whizzer, 1917–2002, U.S. lawyer and jurist: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1962–93.

3. Edmund, born 1940, U.S. novelist.

4. Edward Douglass, 1845–1921, U.S. jurist: chief justice of the U.S. 1910–21.

5. Edward H(iggins), II 1930–67, U.S. astronaut: first American to walk in space 1965.

6. E(lwyn) B(rooks) 1899–1985, U.S. humorist and poet.

7. George Leonard, 1838–95, U.S. choral conductor.

8. Gilbert, 1720–93, English clergyman, naturalist, and writer.

9. Patrick (Victor Martindale) 1912–90, Australian writer, born in England: Nobel Prize 1973.

10. Stanford, 1853–1906, U.S. architect.

11. Stewart Edward, 1873–1946, U.S. novelist.

12. T(erence) H(anbury) 1896–1964, English novelist.

13. Theodore H., 1915–86, U.S. journalist and writer.

14. Walter Francis, 1893–1955, U.S. civil rights leader and writer: executive secretary of the NAACP 1931–55.

15. William A(lanson) 1870–1937, U.S. neurologist, psychiatrist, and writer.

16. William Allen, 1868–1944, U.S. journalist.

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white ¹ British  

/ waɪt /

adjective

1. having no hue due to the reflection of all or almost all incident light Compare black

2. (of light, such as sunlight) consisting of all the colours of the spectrum or produced by certain mixtures of three additive primary colours, such as red, green, and blue

3. comparatively white or whitish-grey in colour or having parts of this colour

   white clover

4. (of an animal) having pale-coloured or white skin, fur, or feathers

5. bloodless or pale, as from pain, emotion, etc

6. (of hair, a beard, etc) silvery or grey, usually from age

7. benevolent or without malicious intent

   white magic

8. colourless or transparent

   white glass

9. capped with or accompanied by snow

   a white Christmas

10. (sometimes capital) counterrevolutionary, very conservative, or royalist Compare Red

11. blank, as an unprinted area of a page

12. (of wine) made from pale grapes or from black grapes separated from their skins

13. 1. (of coffee or tea) with milk or cream

    2. (of bread) made with white flour

14. physics having or characterized by a continuous distribution of energy, wavelength, or frequency

    white noise

15. informal honourable or generous

16. (of armour) made completely of iron or steel (esp in the phrase white harness )

17. rare morally unblemished

18. rare (of times, seasons, etc) auspicious; favourable

19. poetic having a fair complexion; blond

20. to deprive slowly of resources

21. 1. extremely clean and white

    2. informal very pure, honest, and moral

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noun

1. a white colour

2. the condition or quality of being white; whiteness

3. the white or lightly coloured part or area of something

4. the viscous fluid that surrounds the yolk of a bird's egg, esp a hen's egg; albumen

5. anatomy the white part (sclera) of the eyeball

6. any of various butterflies of the family Pieridae See large white small white cabbage white

7. chess draughts

   1. a white or light-coloured piece or square

   2. (usually capital) the player playing with such pieces

8. anything that has or is characterized by a white colour, such as a white paint or pigment, a white cloth, a white ball in billiards

9. an unprinted area of a page

10. archery

    1. the outer ring of the target, having the lowest score

    2. a shot or arrow hitting this ring

11. poetic fairness of complexion

12. (of wood or furniture) left unpainted or unvarnished

verb

1. (usually foll by out) to create or leave white spaces in (printed or other matter)

2. obsolete to make or become white

White ² British  

/ waɪt /

noun

1. Gilbert. 1720–93, English clergyman and naturalist, noted for his Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789)

2. Jimmy. born 1962, English snooker player

3. Marco Pierre. born 1961, British chef and restaurateur

4. Patrick ( Victor Martindale ). 1912–90, Australian novelist: his works include Voss (1957), The Eye of the Storm (1973), and A Fringe of Leaves (1976): Nobel prize for literature 1973

5. T ( erence ) H ( anbury ). 1906–64, British novelist: author of the Arthurian sequence The Once and Future King (1939–58)

6. Willard ( Wentworth ) (ˈwɪlɑːd). born 1946, British operatic bass, born in Jamaica

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White ³ British  

/ waɪt /

noun

1. a person, esp one of European ancestry, from a human population having light pigmentation of the skin

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adjective

1. denoting or relating to a White person or White people

white More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing white

• black and white
• bleed someone white
• great white hope
• show the white feather

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• whiteness
  noun
• half-white
  adjective
• unwhite
  adjective
• whitish
  adjective
• whitely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• whites
  plural

Adjectives

• whiter
  comparative
• whitest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of white

First recorded before 900; Middle English whit(e), Old English hwīt; cognate with German weiss, Old Norse hvītr, Gothic hweits; akin to wheat

Explanation

You know white when you see it; it's the color of a glass of milk or a puffy cloud or freshly fallen snow. Scientifically speaking, white has no hue at all. Ask a physicist and they'll tell you that white is what you see when all the colors of visible light come together. On the color spectrum, it's the direct opposite of black. Use white as an adjective to describe your teacher's chalk, a blank page in your sketchbook, or your grandfather's snowy white hair. It's a noun, too: "We all wore white to the party." White is from a Germanic root that means "light or bright."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white White whites whiter whitest whited whiting

For the six-story glass rotunda that serves as the entrance, architects picked wood from the Republic of Congo and white granite from India’s Kashmir.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

For sweeter, earthier soups made with squash or root vegetables, I tend toward vinegars with a little fruitiness of their own, like apple cider vinegar or my current favorite, white balsamic.

From Salon ● Oct. 5, 2026

The situation escalates as the mariachi music begins playing and the couple approach a display of white roses and candles laid out on the grass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

We both suited up in permethrin-infused clothes and gaiters, and he went to work with his white flannel flag, dragging it to and fro on the grass.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 4, 2026

Not a sound from behind the white curtains.

From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom

He also named Director of the Office of Personnel Management Scott Kupor as a member of the taskforce, which will report directly to the president and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles.

From BBC ● Oct. 5, 2026

Those who said so—including one of us, Dr. Atlas, from inside the White House—faced attacks in the media and university censure.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 5, 2026

The real estate tycoon appears increasingly obsessed by his construction projects at the White House, such as his new ballroom and helipad.

From Barron's ● Oct. 5, 2026

Leavitt also served as an assistant White House press secretary during Trump’s first term.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 5, 2026

Overhead, he saw the Bright White Eye with her or many little cubs.

From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver

I frosted the cake with a Swiss meringue buttercream that required bringing egg whites and sugar together over a pot of simmering water and then whisking it into stiff peaks.

From Salon ● Sep. 26, 2026

We dyed our hair with food color and bleach and kept it straight with egg whites.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 24, 2026

In 2000-19, the prison-admission rate for violent crime dropped 20% for whites, 43% for blacks.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 22, 2026

At a trendy wine bar in Kyiv, locals pop by to sip Zakarpattia whites or get a bottle of wine into the late summer evening.

From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026

“I see midnight blue, persian blue, cornflower, powder, and sapphire. And whites? There’s porcelain, daisy, and pearl.”

From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el

Other proposed methods include squirting aerosols into the atmosphere or using microbubbles to make the ocean whiter.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

After 12 hours, they were nearly 50% whiter than similar teeth brushed with a saline solution.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 23, 2026

Now 74, with a white beard and whiter turban, Ravinder is facing the possibility that he might be the last in that line.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

This region is whiter, more rural, more conservative and poorer than the rest of the state.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 20, 2025

A slash of stone, whiter than the rest, pointed the way home for the men in the currachs.

From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff

A glaring cultural, racial and economic separation exists between the nation’s geographical north and south, the latter the wealthiest and whitest region of Brazil’s massive territory.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025

The whitest layer the furthest away from the ground is regarded as safer to consume.

From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2024

This innovation was derived from the intricate biological structure of Cyphochilus, the whitest known beetle.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 3, 2024

In 2021, Guinness declared it the whitest paint ever, and it has since collected several awards.

From Seattle Times ● Jul. 16, 2023

She had the longest eyelashes Matthias had ever seen, the brightest eyes, the softest fur, the whitest teeth....

From "Redwall" by Brian Jacques

We always feel when something's been whited out because someone didn't understand or translate the culture.

From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2022

Photos show the reference was first whited out, then a laminated description without the sentence was taped over the original placard.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2020

Sometimes he whited them out completely with gouache.

From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2019

Everything is whited out at first, as if I’ve taken off my sunglasses on a glaringly bright day.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 26, 2018

Sunday morning, in a Vermont town, my last day in New England, I shaved, dressed in a suit, polished my shoes, whited my sepulcher, and looked for a church to attend.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck

The wild fish studied included Pacific and Peruvian anchoveta, and Atlantic herring, mackerel, sprat and blue whiting -- which are all marketed and consumed as seafood.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024

Others, including flatfish and whiting, were shown to leave those areas.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023

The species that are most frequently parasitised include salmon, tuna, squid, cod, hake, mackerel, mackerel, horse mackerel, blue whiting, sardines and anchovies.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2023

There are mixed ratings for Celtic Sea haddock, cod and whiting, with warnings that the populations of cod and whiting caught there are at dangerously low levels.

From BBC ● Apr. 6, 2022

It burned with something else, whiting out the setting around them.

From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi

Related Words

• alabaster
• milky
• porcelain
• snowy