dye
Americannoun
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dyes
plural
-
a coloring material or matter.
-
a liquid containing coloring matter, for imparting a particular hue to cloth, paper, etc.
-
color or hue, especially as produced by dyeing.
verb (used with object)
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dyes,
present (3rd person singular)
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dyed,
past participle, past
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dyeing
present participle
-
to color or stain; treat with a dye; color (cloth, hair, etc.) with a substance containing coloring matter.
to dye a dress green.
-
to impart (color) by means of a dye.
The coloring matter dyed green.
verb (used without object)
-
dyes,
present (3rd person singular)
-
dyed,
past participle, past
-
dyeing
present participle
-
to impart color, as a dye.
This brand dyes well.
-
to become colored or absorb color when treated with a dye.
This cloth dyes easily.
idioms
noun
-
a staining or colouring substance, such as a natural or synthetic pigment
-
a liquid that contains a colouring material and can be used to stain fabrics, skins, etc
-
the colour or shade produced by dyeing
verb
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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dyernoun
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redyeverb (used with object)
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dyableadjective
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dyeableadjective
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undyableadjective
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undyedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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dyesimple
-
dyessimple
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have dyedperfect
-
has dyedperfect
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am dyeingprogressive
-
are dyeingprogressive
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is dyeingprogressive
-
have been dyeingperfect progressive
-
has been dyeingperfect progressive
Past
-
dyedsimple
-
had dyedperfect
-
was dyeingprogressive
-
were dyeingprogressive
-
had been dyeingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of dye
before 1000; Middle English dien, Old English dēagian, derivative of dēag a dye
Explanation
Dye is a substance that's used to change the color of whatever it's applied to. You can use hair dye to change your light brown hair to deep, dark purple. Dye is used on fabrics, hair, yarn and other fibers, clothing, and food, among other things. When you apply dye to something, you dye it. If you're baking a birthday cake for your friend who loves the color orange, you might use food coloring — a type of dye — to dye the vanilla frosting orange. The Old English root of dye is deah, "a color or hue," which is possibly related to deagol, "secret, hidden, or dark."
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:
Digital disaffection has bled into our lives like dye onto white linen, creeping through every inch of the fabric until it’s covered in amorphous patterns of color; some beautiful, some painfully ugly.
From Salon ● Aug. 24, 2026
A plastic bag she had been using to dye her hair when they had left for the beach was still on her head.
From BBC ● Aug. 14, 2026
By analyzing how the dye moved, the AI could estimate both the speed of the fluid and the permeability of the surrounding brain tissue.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 13, 2026
Nature produces few truly blue plants and minerals, making blue the holy grail of natural food dyes, said Paul Manning, chief executive of dye manufacturer Sensient Technologies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 18, 2026
Sandy gives Delilah’s colorful hair a once-over, and Delilah wishes she’d respected her editor’s hints to dye it brown again, if only to gain her favor right now.
From "They Both Die at the End" by Adam Silvera
She marked the cells with different fluorescent dyes and then isolated those that reacted to activin.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 5, 2026
But they bought more chewing gum, mouthwash and hair dyes - products that counter common GLP-1 side effects like thinning hair and bad breath.
From BBC ● Jul. 7, 2026
The Health and Human Services Secretary, along with his supporters, claim that synthetic dyes are both unnecessary and harmful, pointing to reports linking these dyes to behavioral problems in children.
From Salon ● Jun. 29, 2026
Future schemes would include improving battery life for green energy storage, developing farming techniques in India that would be resilient to a changing climate, and eco-friendly dyes and colours for the fashion industry.
From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026
She is so altered from the woman I knew in the Capitol, stripped of the gaudy clothing, the heavy makeup, the dyes and jewelry and knick-knacks she adorned her hair with.
From "Mockingjay" by Suzanne Collins
Once, after a worker dyed her hair blonde, she rushed back to the hairdresser to make it black again, worried she would look out of place at the company, the worker said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 16, 2026
In a 2020 UK study, 51% of employers admitted turning down a candidate because of the way they looked, with managers indicating they had been influenced by scruffy clothes or poorly dyed hair.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
His hair, previously dyed jet black, had gone entirely silver and his thick mustache had been replaced by a scruffy beard.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
"The lagoon was dyed regularly between 2017 and 2024... but this was removed from the annual plan last year following lower reports of anti-social behaviour," he added.
From BBC ● May 28, 2026
His clothes were finely made and colorful, his jerkin and leggings stitched in braided sinew dyed red, and edged in some kind of bird skin stained green.
From "Wolf Brother" by Michelle Paver
"Some start wearing shorter skirts or dyeing their hair. Once people begin expressing themselves, it affects a system where everyone is supposed to think and move together."
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
Launching into the world of modeling soon after, she divorced her husband and made a history-defining decision: dyeing her brown hair platinum blonde.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
The researchers hope their findings will encourage more thorough testing of clothing before it reaches consumers and push manufacturers to adopt safer alternatives during the dyeing process.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 2, 2026
Perhaps the translation is off, or maybe something else needs tinkering; dyeing her hair Nora’s exact shade of brown doesn’t help, nor does attempting to do the film in a Norwegian accent.
From Salon ● Nov. 23, 2025
“I’m dyeing some of Dudley’s old things gray for you. It’ll look just like everyone else’s when I’ve finished.”
From "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" by J.K. Rowling
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.
