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
possessing colour
having a strong element of fiction or fantasy; distorted (esp in the phrase highly coloured )
The use of Coloured to refer to a person of mixed ethnic origin is likely to cause offence and should be avoided
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
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
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
Though “born free” after apartheid, as the South African saying goes, in 1993, she too grew up in a Coloured area, Greenpoint, where people had mining-related jobs; her father is a metalworker.
From New York Times ● Apr. 28, 2022
The Coloured people rallied against the Separate Representation of Voters Act, organizing a tremendous demonstration in Cape Town in March of 1951 and a strike in April that kept shops closed and schoolchildren at home.
From "Long Walk to Freedom" by Nelson Mandela
The service's map of Germany was nearly completely coloured the dark purple that signifies "extreme heat warning".
From Barron's ● Jun. 26, 2026
Living up to its namesake, fast cars, helicopters and motorbikes also grace the game's brightly coloured cover, created in the series' signature pop-art style.
From BBC ● Jun. 18, 2026
His daughter, Felicia Helen Parazaider, also posted on Facebook that “I love you poppy, my Pal...You coloured our world.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 17, 2026
Early dabbawalas transported lunchboxes on bicycles and marked them with coloured threads so they could be sorted and returned accurately.
From BBC ● May 29, 2026
Above me on the wall hangs the glass case with the coloured butterflies that once I collected.
From "All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel" by Erich Maria Remarque
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.
