of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue.
dark, dismal, or gloomy.
gray skies.
dull, dreary, or monotonous.
having gray hair; gray-headed.
pertaining to old age; mature.
Informal. pertaining to, involving, or composed of older persons.
gray households.
old or ancient.
indeterminate and intermediate in character.
The tax audit concentrated on deductions in the gray area between purely personal and purely business expenses.
any achromatic color; any color with zero chroma, intermediate between white and black.
something of this color.
gray material or clothing.
to dress in gray.
an unbleached and undyed condition.
(often initial capital letter) a member of the Confederate army in the American Civil War or the army itself.
a horse of a gray color.
a horse that appears white but is not an albino.
Asa 1810–88, U.S. botanist.
Robert, 1755–1806, U.S. explorer and sea captain: discovered the Columbia River.
Thomas, 1716–71, English poet.
What’s the difference between gray and grey? Gray and grey are simply different spellings of the same word, which refers to the color halfway between black and white (among other more figurative meanings). In popular use, the two spellings are used interchangeably, though one spelling is often preferred in many places. The spelling gray is much more common in American English, while grey is more common in British English. Remember: spell gray with an a in America, and spell grey with an e in England (among other places). Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between gray and grey.
First recorded before 900; Middle English grei, grai, Old English grǣg, grēg; cognate with German grau, Old Norse grār
First recorded in 1975; named in honor of Louis Harold Gray (1905–65), English radiobiologist
Because the color gray is between black and white — actually a mix of the two — it is often used to denote something dull or monotonous. When the sun comes out after a long stretch of gray days, you suddenly feel alive again. Everybody to the beach! You might feel old when you see your gray hairs, but I think they make you look wise and distinguished. Because gray is dull and indistinct, you can refer to something not quite clear as being "in a gray area." You often find some gray area between right and wrong . . . especially when you are accused of doing something wrong. Don’t worry about the British spelling "grey": it’s interchangeable with the American English spelling.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Three hundred years later, Gray’s Anatomy by Henry Gray reinforced the impression that the body had finally been catalogued, indexed and neatly organized – a system mapped and fully explained.
From Science Daily • Jun. 21, 2026
Last year, BlackRock partnered with Great Gray Trust Company to launch Panorix Target Date Series—a group of target-date funds structured as collective investment trusts or CITs, incorporating BlackRock’s private investments.
From Barron's • Jun. 16, 2026
“Angel’s a beast on the boards,” Gray said.
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 15, 2026
Gray said bail conditions were under "constant review" but added it was ultimately up to individual courts to implement them.
From BBC • Jun. 7, 2026
The yin fixes the yang, the image restores the original: with DNA, as with Dorian Gray, the prototype is constantly reinvigorated by its portrait.
From "The Gene" by Siddhartha Mukherjee
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.
