Coloured
noun
an individual who is not a White person, esp a Black person
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Coloured
1 British
/ ˈkʌləd /
noun
-
old-fashioned an individual who is not a White person, esp a Black person
-
-
a person of mixed ethnic parentage or descent
-
a person of mixed ethnic descent speaking English or Afrikaans as their mother tongue
-
adjective
coloured
2
British
/ ˈkʌləd /
adjective
-
possessing colour
-
having a strong element of fiction or fantasy; distorted (esp in the phrase highly coloured )
Usage
The use of Coloured to refer to a person of mixed ethnic origin is likely to cause offence and should be avoided
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.
See Examples For:
State legislatures literally criminalized the possession of things like David Walker's "Appeal to the Coloured Citizens of the World."
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2025
In Cape Town, improvisers picked up on the carnival music of the townships’ Coloured population, a mix of Malaysian, Indian, Dutch, Khoisan and Black African heritages.
From New York Times ● Jun. 5, 2024
The Melbourne study is recruiting through a nonprofit partner organization called Many Coloured Sky that supports LGBTQI+ refugees and asylum seekers.
From Science Magazine ● Apr. 24, 2024
"Coloured stones performed extremely well, as did signed jewellery... There's a great market out there for rare things, and there are still collectors looking for the very best."
From Reuters ● Nov. 7, 2023
Later, they were joined by the APO, the African People’s Organization, a Coloured organization.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The nutrition supplement market is a big business, with hundreds of brightly coloured recovery drinks and capsules promising reduced soreness and faster recovery.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 14, 2026
The first step was a surreal advert, showing models in a range of bizarre and brightly coloured outfits.
From BBC ● Oct. 7, 2026
Xu's video is artificially brightly coloured - common in microscopy and permitted in the contest - which is usually done manually using stains and dyes on the sample itself.
From BBC ● Sep. 30, 2026
Players try to clear their screen of coloured blobs by lining them up and popping them, creating chain reactions called 'dairensa'.
From BBC ● Sep. 24, 2026
Between the rose bowls the books were duly set out—a row of nursery quartos opened invitingly each at some gaily coloured image of beast or fish or bird.
From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
