gray
adjective
of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue.
gray
1 American
[gray]
/ greɪ /
especially British,
grey
adjective
-
grayer,
comparative
-
grayest
superlative
-
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.
noun
-
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.
verb (used with or without object)
-
grays,
present (3rd person singular)
-
grayed,
past participle, past
-
graying
present participle
gray
2
American
[gray]
/ greɪ /
noun
Physics.
Gray
3
American
[gray]
/ greɪ /
noun
-
Asa 1810–88, U.S. botanist.
-
Robert, 1755–1806, U.S. explorer and sea captain: discovered the Columbia River.
-
Thomas, 1716–71, English poet.
gray
1
British
/ ɡreɪ /
adjective
gray
2
British
/ ɡreɪ /
noun
Gray
3
British
/ ɡreɪ /
noun
gray
Scientific
/ grā /
gray
Idioms
Usage
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.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
graysimple
-
grayssimple
-
have grayedperfect
-
has grayedperfect
-
am grayingprogressive
-
are grayingprogressive
-
is grayingprogressive
-
have been grayingperfect progressive
-
has been grayingperfect progressive
Past
-
grayedsimple
-
had grayedperfect
-
was grayingprogressive
-
were grayingprogressive
-
had been grayingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of gray1
First recorded before 900; Middle English grei, grai, Old English grǣg, grēg; cognate with German grau, Old Norse grār
Origin of gray2
First recorded in 1975; named in honor of Louis Harold Gray (1905–65), English radiobiologist
Explanation
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.
Vocabulary lists containing gray
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:
In acute situations, they turn to a more reliable alternative: gray trash bags.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
This Pacific Ocean is the true one: silty, cold, gray and hostile.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2026
Mark Zuckerberg was superglued into those Brunello Cucinelli gray T-shirts until he started wearing oversize Amiri tees in an effort to seem cooler.
From Slate ● Oct. 3, 2026
In a lighter moment earlier, the mayor, wearing a gray suit, had joined a tiara-wearing Miss Huntington Beach in selecting winners of a lottery—to run fireworks stands—from numbered balls in a bingo cage.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Jonah’s sitting on a striped towel, wearing his gray Union T-shirt and a blue bathing suit.
From "Keeping Pace" by Laurie Morrison
Gray is a founder, scientific advisor and board member for Shenandoah Therapeutics.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 8, 2026
The firm also mentioned US scientists Harry Gray and Jay Winkler for advancing understanding of how electrons move in proteins.
From Barron's ● Oct. 7, 2026
According to the Scottish Sun,, external the Marshall family are now suing Gray for a six-figure sum, alleging negligence.
From BBC ● Oct. 4, 2026
With runners on first and third and two outs, Tracy opted to remove Sonny Gray, his best starter.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 1, 2026
Joe gave the same alibi Rose did: on the night of May 21, 1921, they had been together in Pawnee, seventeen miles southwest of Gray Horse, and had stopped at a rooming house.
From "Killers of the Flower Moon" by David Grann
Presidents famously age during their terms, often starting off looking hale and hearty and, by the time they’re finished, appearing tired, more lined and a whole lot grayer than when they started.
From Salon ● Oct. 10, 2026
On an afternoon that was cooler and grayer than Thursday, the woman ranked No. 1 in the world got back on track.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2026
In prediction markets, the rules are considerably grayer, as the Harvard Law School Forum on Corporate Governance detailed last month.
From Slate ● Apr. 24, 2026
Just tell Claude: Make the gray background a little grayer.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
The sky has turned grayer than when we arrived.
From "Marcus Vega Doesn't Speak Spanish" by Pablo Cartaya
Presumably the same is true of the grayest day.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 21, 2023
It makes a great coffee table book, one that can help inspire on even the grayest of days.
From The Verge ● Apr. 28, 2022
Even during the grayest of winter months, there is plenty of green, and pops of color and beauty around the region in arboretums and botanical gardens.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 8, 2022
Now each year, come Thanksgiving, the tree bears vibrant orange fruit on the grayest of almost-winter mornings, and I am reminded of him.
From New York Times ● Nov. 23, 2021
Perhaps she remembered their first months together when in the grayest days he saw color, because they belonged one to the other.
From Suzanna Stirs the Fire by Emily Calvin Blake
The biggest problem involved the neutral axis, the line of grays that runs from black to white.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 7, 2026
Every now and then, Apple sets aside its palette of austere silvers and grays, using both color and lower price points to appeal to a broader, mostly younger, audience.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 6, 2026
The broker had staged the house with attractive furniture in taupes and grays.
From Slate ● Mar. 6, 2025
“By the grays in my beard they’d probably know. They’d probably know I’m a lot older than they think,” James said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 12, 2024
The desolate landscape was painted in blues and grays by the moon.
From "Between Shades of Gray" by Ruta Sepetys
In the distance, somewhat grayed by atmospheric haze, are the smokestacks and cooling tower of the power plant.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 22, 2026
By 2003, on Mars, his hair has grayed and receded, and the wrinkles have multiplied and deepened.
From New York Times ● Nov. 5, 2023
In one arresting work, attic wainscoting is a series of vertical black rectangles lined up one after the next against grayed ground.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
The fire department noted that the large amounts of logs and brush inside the landfill helped produce the prodigious plumes of smoke that further grayed out the sky well into Tuesday.
From Washington Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
The soles of Fang's feet, grayed by powdery stone, were all I could see of him.
From "Anthem of a Reluctant Prophet" by Joanne Proulx
They are graying and a bit world-weary now as they file into a courtroom in Las Vegas.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026
Where is the graying legal scholar sitting in a humid Cape Cod cottage who wouldn’t love to dive into some arcane case law and get justice for a game-changing superstar?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
Behind him, a mature Joshua tree was dying, its graying limbs drooping sadly.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 19, 2026
My rapidly thinning, gradually graying hair tells me that I’m not the man I was two decades ago.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 8, 2026
He looked a little like my grandfather, not as heavy, but his face, the way his hair was graying, even the way he moved.
From "Mississippi Trial, 1955" by Chris Crowe
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