Showing Results for "colored"

See Also:

• past tense form of color.
• past participle of color.

colored

American  

[kuhl-erd] / ˈkʌl ərd /

adjective

1. having color.

2. Older Use: Offensive. belonging wholly or in part to any group of nonwhite people, especially to Black people.

3. Older Use: Offensive. pertaining to Black people.

4. influenced or biased.

   colored opinions.

5. specious; deceptive.

   The authorities detected a colored quality in her statement.

6. Botany. of some hue other than green.

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noun

1. Older Use: Offensive.

   1. a Black person.

   2. the colored, Black people as a group.

2. Cape Colored.

Sensitive Note

See Black ¹.

Usage

Spelling tips for colored The word colored is hard to spell for three reasons. First, it can be tempting to use a double l or double r. Second, in British English, the word is spelled with a u (colored), unlike in American English. Finally, the ending -ed is pronounced simply [ d ], so one may forget the e. How to spell colored: When it comes to color, keep it simple. You don't need any extra letters, like a double l, double r, or u. For adjectives like colored that end with the sound [ d ], remember that you will always need a little Extra (e) to get it Done, -ed.

Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• uncoloredness
  noun
• well-colored
  adjective
• uncoloredly
  adverb
• uncolored
  adjective
• undercolored
  adjective
• half-colored
  adjective

Etymology

Origin of colored

A Middle English word dating back to 1275–1325; see origin at color, -ed ³

Example Sentences

For example, the Colored People’s Convention that met in 1865 in Charleston, South Carolina, argued that equal voting rights were “inherent and essential to every republican form of government.”

From Slate • Jun. 3, 2026

A team from Georgetown University is investigating their deaths at the House of Reformation and Instruction for Colored Children, a segregated juvenile detention facility in Cheltenham, Maryland, and memorializing them.

From Barron's • Feb. 27, 2026

Mazingo cited similar efforts by the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People in the early 1980s that had attacked Hollywood’s hiring practices.

From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 17, 2026

“I'll never forget it, watching those girls who I’d just done ‘For Colored Girls’ with, but they're continuing on with their acting program, so they're in this production, and I'm not,” she said.

From Salon • Sep. 27, 2024

She was one of the founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People.

From "Votes for Women!" by Winifred Conkling