green
1 Americanadjective
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of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.
green leaves.
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covered with herbage or foliage; verdant.
green fields.
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characterized by the presence of verdure.
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made of green vegetables, as lettuce, spinach, endive, or chicory.
a green salad.
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not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; unripe; not properly aged.
This peach is still green.
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unseasoned; not dried or cured.
green lumber.
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immature in age or judgment; untrained; inexperienced.
a green worker.
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simple; unsophisticated; gullible; easily fooled.
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fresh, recent, or new.
an insult still green in his mind.
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having a sickly appearance; pale; wan: She was excited and laughing happily when the plane took off, but when her skydiving instructor opened the door at 9,000 feet, her face went positively green with fear.
You’re looking a little green there—are you going to be sick?
She was excited and laughing happily when the plane took off, but when her skydiving instructor opened the door at 9,000 feet, her face went positively green with fear.
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full of life and vigor; young.
a man ripe in years but green in heart.
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environmentally sound or beneficial.
green computers.
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(of wine) having a flavor that is raw, harsh, and acid, due especially to a lack of maturity.
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freshly slaughtered or still raw.
green meat.
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not fired, as bricks or pottery.
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(of cement or mortar) freshly set and not completely hardened.
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Foundry.
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(of sand) sufficiently moist to form a compact lining for a mold without further treatment.
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(of a casting) as it comes from the mold.
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(of a powder, in powder metallurgy) unsintered.
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noun
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a color intermediate in the spectrum between yellow and blue, an effect of light with a wavelength between 500 and 570 nanometers; found in nature as the color of most grasses and leaves while growing, of some fruits while ripening, and of the sea.
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Art. a secondary color that has been formed by the mixture of blue and yellow pigments.
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green coloring matter, as paint or dye.
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green material or clothing.
to be dressed in green.
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Also called Army greens. greens. a blue-green uniform of the U.S. Army.
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greens,
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fresh leaves or branches of trees, shrubs, etc., used for decoration.
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the leaves and stems of plants, as spinach, lettuce, or beets, used as food.
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grassy land; a plot of grassy ground.
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a piece of grassy ground constituting a town or village common.
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Also called putting green. Golf. the area of closely cropped grass surrounding each hole.
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a shooting range for archery.
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Informal. green light.
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Slang. Usually the green money; greenbacks.
I'd like to buy a new car but I don't have the green.
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Green, a member of the Green party.
verb (used with or without object)
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to become or make green.
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Informal. to restore the vitality of.
Younger executives are greening corporate managements.
noun
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Henrietta Howland Robinson Hetty, 1835–1916, U.S. financier.
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Henry Henry Vincent Yorke, 1905–73, English novelist.
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John Richard, 1837–83, English historian.
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Julian, 1900–1998, French writer, born in U.S.
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Paul Eliot, 1894–1981, U.S. playwright, novelist, and teacher.
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William, 1873–1952, U.S. labor leader: president of the A.F.L. 1924–52.
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a river flowing S from W Wyoming to join the Colorado River in SE Utah. 730 miles (1,175 km) long.
noun
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any of a group of colours, such as that of fresh grass, that lie between yellow and blue in the visible spectrum in the wavelength range 575–500 nanometres. Green is the complementary colour of magenta and with red and blue forms a set of primary colours
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a dye or pigment of or producing these colours
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something of the colour green
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a small area of grassland, esp in the centre of a village
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an area of ground used for a purpose
a putting green
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(plural)
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the edible leaves and stems of certain plants, eaten as a vegetable
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freshly cut branches of ornamental trees, shrubs, etc, used as a decoration
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(sometimes capital) a person, esp a politician, who supports environmentalist issues (see sense 13)
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slang money
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slang marijuana of low quality
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slang (plural) sexual intercourse
adjective
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of the colour green
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greenish in colour or having parts or marks that are greenish
a green monkey
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(sometimes capital) concerned with or relating to conservation of the world's natural resources and improvement of the environment
green policies
the green consumer
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vigorous; not faded
a green old age
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envious or jealous
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immature, unsophisticated, or gullible
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characterized by foliage or green plants
a green wood
a green salad
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fresh, raw, or unripe
green bananas
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unhealthily pale in appearance
he was green after his boat trip
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denoting a unit of account that is adjusted in accordance with fluctuations between the currencies of the EU nations and is used to make payments to agricultural producers within the EU
green pound
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(of pottery) not fired
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(of meat) not smoked or cured; unprocessed
green bacon
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metallurgy (of a product, such as a sand mould or cermet) compacted but not yet fired; ready for firing
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(of timber) freshly felled; not dried or seasoned
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(of concrete) not having matured to design strength
verb
noun
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Henry, real name Henry Vincent Yorke . 1905–73, British novelist: author of Living (1929), Loving (1945), and Back (1946)
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John Richard. 1837–83, British historian; author of A Short History of the English People (1874)
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T ( homas ) H ( ill ). 1836–82, British idealist philosopher. His chief work, Prolegomena to Ethics, was unfinished at his death
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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greenagenoun
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greennessnoun
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outgreenverb (used with object)
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greenishadjective
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greenyadjective
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nongreenadjective
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ungreenedadjective
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greenlyadverb
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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greensimple
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greenssimple
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have greenedperfect
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has greenedperfect
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am greeningprogressive
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are greeningprogressive
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is greeningprogressive
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have been greeningperfect progressive
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has been greeningperfect progressive
Past
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greenedsimple
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had greenedperfect
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was greeningprogressive
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were greeningprogressive
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had been greeningperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of green
First recorded before 900; Middle English, Old English grēne; cognate with German grün; akin to grow
Explanation
Green is a color on the spectrum between blue and yellow, or made by mixing those colors. You might love the brilliant color of the green grass in the spring time. Green is a color you tend to see everywhere in nature, especially in the summer. Grass, trees, and plants are varying shades of green, and so is the lettuce that's used to make "a green salad." Green also means "unripe" as in a tomato, or "inexperienced," as in someone who's new at a job. In the 16th century, Shakespeare coined the phrase "the green-ey'd monster," and since then green has symbolized jealousy or envy.
Vocabulary lists containing green
Green
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Naive
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Developing
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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:
Not your typical work lunch, to be sure, but in these atypical times, it ain’t easy staying green.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
Ronaldo suffered a convulsion earlier in the day but was given the green light to start for Mario Zagallo's side.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
"We're switching to green energy, coal is over," he adds.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
A San Ysidro man is accused of a fake green card scheme, impersonating ICE agents and defrauding Orange County residents, prosecutors say.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 16, 2026
“Oh, wonderful. Let me guess. Follow the green light until I supposedly end up in a place that is not here?”
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
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It is also understood the Green Party does pay for some private security for its leader.
From BBC ● Jul. 17, 2026
She is an award-winning travel and adventure writer living in Vermont's Green Mountains.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
Unfortunately, Green never notched another one at a major international tournament again.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
The package is in addition to the £25m emergency fund announced in April after the Golders Green attack.
From BBC ● Jul. 13, 2026
“You know what, Green Man?” she said to the Huntsman.
From "Half Upon a Time" by James Riley
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I found, unsurprisingly, that the steps people have taken vary quite significantly, but they all have one common denominator: The greens are cooked—in more ways than one.
From Slate ● Jul. 17, 2026
The 37-year-old from Northern Ireland drove the ball superbly, but struggled on the greens which were a little bumpy given all the foot traffic that had gone before him.
From BBC ● Jul. 16, 2026
Pay attention when lettuce or greens show up in sandwiches or burgers.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 14, 2026
Lettuce and other leafy foods with multiple layers pose a higher risk of contamination, but with a vigorous wash and peeling the outer layers, even the greens can be saved.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 8, 2026
This picture was different from her usual ones, drawn with thin lines of color, greens and yellows, instead of thick peat lines.
From "Nory Ryan’s Song" by Patricia Reilly Giff
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A new report from the London People's Assembly on Food, Nature and the Right to Grow outlines 12 demands to make the capital "greener and more edible" by 2035.
From BBC ● Jul. 14, 2026
You know the story: The pool got greener and greener.
From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026
“You get good healthcare, nice leisurely lunches, it’s a different way of life,” he said, “It’s not that the grass is always greener, these are just facts.”
From Barron's ● Jun. 7, 2026
"We are looking at environmental disasters like oil spills, and identifying ways to remediate them in faster, greener and more sustainable ways," Oran said.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 5, 2026
It was a fine morning for hunting, with the air still and the rising sun shining bright on the tall green grass and the greener leaves of the timber.
From "Old Yeller" by Fred Gipson
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It ranges from the greenest to the dirtiest, from established technologies to speculative ones, and even includes companies that play tangential roles in the sector.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 24, 2025
Rather, it reflects a 21st-century understanding of the environmental movement, one that recognizes that an existing neighborhood is the greenest place for housing to be built.
From Slate ● Jul. 2, 2025
Despite the greenest possible light, at least one of his 93 NBA field-goal attempts have had to cross Knecht’s “crazy or something like that” threshold, right?
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 17, 2024
The organising committee of Paris 2024 has vowed to make it the greenest Games in Olympic history, with half the carbon footprint of London 2012 and Rio 2016.
From BBC ● Jul. 23, 2024
Some of us could be jealous, and the greenest of all was Miranda Gibbler.
From "Out of Darkness" by Ashley Hope Pérez
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Trees with access to shallow water tables "greened up" during drought, the researchers found, while trees over deeper water tables experienced more foliage browning and tree death.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 19, 2024
Some research has found that greening projects are contagious: Neighbors of greened lots start taking better care of their own yards.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 14, 2023
And all the snowmelt has brilliantly greened what’s often a dry, brown tinder box by this time of year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 11, 2023
Olsen told Jackson that you can cut off lightly greened patches and toss any potatoes with large green areas, though you may want to be more conservative when serving children.
From Washington Post ● Jan. 17, 2022
Week after week, I returned to Iowa, watching through the plane window as the seasons changed, as the earth slowly greened and the soybean and corn crops grew in ruler-straight lines.
From "Becoming" by Michelle Obama
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So experts said countries across the region should further insulate energy systems against more frequent disruptive weather events by diversifying and greening their grids.
From Barron's ● May 5, 2026
Her priorities have included early education expansion, school greening improvements, literacy through phonics training, protecting immigrant students and focusing more budget resources on the highest-need schools.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 30, 2026
I asked numerous people—farmers and industry leaders and researchers—to estimate how many trees in Florida now have greening.
From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026
However the pumpkins got there, it was an uplifting sight, as was the greening of the mountains and foothills just up the way.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 17, 2025
Cotton grew in the field that bounded the railroad tracks and the air was laden with the opulent smells of greening crops and leafy forests.
From "The Great Santini" by Pat Conroy
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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.