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• color code
  color code

  noun

  any system of marking or visual designation that uses specific colors for indicating or simplifying, as on a chart or map or in an industrial plant.
• color-code
  color-code

  verb (used with object)

  to distinguish or classify with a color code.

color code

¹ American  

noun

1. any system of marking or visual designation that uses specific colors for indicating or simplifying, as on a chart or map or in an industrial plant.

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color-code ² American  

[kuhl-er-kohd] / ˈkʌl ərˌkoʊd /

verb (used with object)

color-coded, color-coding

1. to distinguish or classify with a color code.

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Etymology

Origin of color-code

First recorded in 1955–60

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

color code color-code color-coded color-coding

"Beyond imaging, a DNA color code could have very useful applications in data storage on DNA," says Tadija Keki?,

From Science Daily ● Oct. 17, 2023

To find out how much information you will get, on average, from an initial word, you can calculate the entropy for each possible associated color code and weight it with the probability of occurrence.

From Scientific American ● Apr. 28, 2023

It's not legislation to have to put on the front and color code it so that a busy working parent can decide.

From Salon ● Jan. 18, 2023

The observatory also changed the aviation color code to “orange,” alerting pilots that there’s potential for an eruption and they may need to avoid the area if one occurs.

From Seattle Times ● Aug. 25, 2021

The mother had devised the color code to save time.

From "How the García Girls Lost Their Accents" by Julia Alvarez

Adapting an approach commonly used by immunologists, the team was able to color-code individual particles within cells using antibodies and then sort them by color.

From Science Daily ● Dec. 21, 2023

Rescuers physically tag properties and blocks they have checked, but they also use software that allows them to map addresses and color-code them based on their findings.

From New York Times ● Oct. 3, 2022

As Shapiro rose to be a manager, he became fluent in the color-code vocabulary.

From Seattle Times ● Oct. 1, 2019

And as with Himes, you can’t color-code for good and bad guys.

From Washington Post ● Jun. 9, 2016

I decided to color-code the list for each set of traits, marking a small dot next to the list entry.

From Slate ● Jan. 31, 2013

A color-coded world map in the report plotted out that threat: green for lower-risk countries, where retail consolidation was low, and red for higher risk.

From MarketWatch ● Sep. 16, 2026

“His closet is color-coded and everything is in the right spot,” said Mitch, whose girlfriend, Isabella, also lives with them.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 7, 2026

To use it while playing Wordle, a player would run a separate script/program and enter the color-coded feedback after each guess.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2026

But "Category 1" ticket holders were placed in sections that, at one point, were color-coded as "Category 2," according to the report.

From Barron's ● May 13, 2026

It had color-coded little flag things sticking out the side.

From "From Twinkle, with Love" by Sandhya Menon

Census reports suggests that the old civic-cultural norm in “whiteness” is fading and that no other official color-coding can tell us who “we” really are.

From Salon ● Aug. 23, 2024

Intentional use of color-coding was very important to participants, increasing both their understanding and perception of credibility.

From Science Daily ● Sep. 20, 2023

For this semester, the university has kept the color-coding, but adapted the guidelines to recognize that almost everyone is vaccinated, including 99 percent of students and 100 percent of the faculty.

From New York Times ● Jan. 16, 2022

So is there any actual benefit to color-coding the baby or harm in not doing so?

From Slate ● Jun. 25, 2019

A note on insulation color-coding: Insulating plastic is color-coded to identify live/hot, neutral and ground wires but these codes vary around the world.

From Textbooks ● Aug. 12, 2015