chroma
Americannoun
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the purity of a color, or its freedom from white or gray.
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intensity of distinctive hue; saturation of a color.
noun
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the attribute of a colour that enables an observer to judge how much chromatic colour it contains irrespective of achromatic colour present See also saturation
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(in colour television) the colour component in a composite coded signal
Etymology
Origin of chroma
First recorded in 1885–90, chroma is from the Greek word chrôma color
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Meanwhile figures such as Albert H. Munsell, a painter-turned-color-theorist, devised systems that mapped color by hue, value and chroma in an effort to translate perception into measurable terms.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
But if there’s a little bit more ambient lighting, colors look washed out, or low in chroma.
From Salon ● Nov. 16, 2024
The Watts Towers aim to split the sky into chroma, spires tiled with rubble nothing less than aspiration.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 14, 2024
First there was Robert Musil the mechanical engineer, who invented a chroma meter, a device for evaluating color.
From New York Times ● Dec. 5, 2019
Interior: range of hue and chroma same as for exterior surface; value 4 to 8.
From Mohave Pottery by Harner, Michaell J.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
