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• green
  green

  adjective

  of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.
• Green
  Green

  noun

  Henrietta Howland Robinson Hetty, 1835–1916, U.S. financier.

green

¹ American  

[green] / grin /

adjective

• greener,
  comparative
• greenest
  superlative

1. of the color of growing foliage, between yellow and blue in the spectrum.

   green leaves.

2. covered with herbage or foliage; verdant.

   green fields.

3. characterized by the presence of verdure.

4. made of green vegetables, as lettuce, spinach, endive, or chicory.

   a green salad.

5. not fully developed or perfected in growth or condition; unripe; not properly aged.

   This peach is still green.

6. unseasoned; not dried or cured.

   green lumber.

7. immature in age or judgment; untrained; inexperienced.

   a green worker.

8. simple; unsophisticated; gullible; easily fooled.

9. fresh, recent, or new.

   an insult still green in his mind.

10. 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.

11. full of life and vigor; young.

    a man ripe in years but green in heart.

12. environmentally sound or beneficial.

    green computers.

13. (of wine) having a flavor that is raw, harsh, and acid, due especially to a lack of maturity.

14. freshly slaughtered or still raw.

    green meat.

15. not fired, as bricks or pottery.

16. (of cement or mortar) freshly set and not completely hardened.

17. Foundry.

    1. (of sand) sufficiently moist to form a compact lining for a mold without further treatment.

    2. (of a casting) as it comes from the mold.

    3. (of a powder, in powder metallurgy) unsintered.

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noun

• greens
  plural

1. 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.

2. Art. a secondary color that has been formed by the mixture of blue and yellow pigments.

3. green coloring matter, as paint or dye.

4. 1. green material or clothing.

      to be dressed in green.

   2. Also called Army greens.  greens. a blue-green uniform of the U.S. Army.

5. greens,

   1. fresh leaves or branches of trees, shrubs, etc., used for decoration.

   2. the leaves and stems of plants, as spinach, lettuce, or beets, used as food.

6. grassy land; a plot of grassy ground.

7. a piece of grassy ground constituting a town or village common.

8. Also called putting green.  Golf. the area of closely cropped grass surrounding each hole.

9. bowling green.

10. a shooting range for archery.

11. Informal. green light.

12. Slang. Usually the green money; greenbacks.

    I'd like to buy a new car but I don't have the green.

13. Green, a member of the Green party.

verb (used with or without object)

• greens,
  present (3rd person singular)
• greened,
  past participle,  past
• greening
  present participle

1. to become or make green.

2. Informal. to restore the vitality of.

   Younger executives are greening corporate managements.

idioms

1. green with envy. envy.

2. read the green, to inspect a golf green, analyzing its slope and surface, so as to determine the difficulties to be encountered when putting.

3. green around the gills. gill.

Green ² American  

[green] / grin /

noun

1. Henrietta Howland Robinson Hetty, 1835–1916, U.S. financier.

2. Henry Henry Vincent Yorke, 1905–73, English novelist.

3. John Richard, 1837–83, English historian.

4. Julian, 1900–1998, French writer, born in U.S.

5. Paul Eliot, 1894–1981, U.S. playwright, novelist, and teacher.

6. William, 1873–1952, U.S. labor leader: president of the A.F.L. 1924–52.

7. a river flowing S from W Wyoming to join the Colorado River in SE Utah. 730 miles (1,175 km) long.

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green ¹ British  

/ ɡriːn /

noun

1. 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

2. a dye or pigment of or producing these colours

3. something of the colour green

4. a small area of grassland, esp in the centre of a village

5. an area of ground used for a purpose

   a putting green

6. (plural)

   1. the edible leaves and stems of certain plants, eaten as a vegetable

   2. freshly cut branches of ornamental trees, shrubs, etc, used as a decoration

7. (sometimes capital) a person, esp a politician, who supports environmentalist issues (see sense 13)

8. slang money

9. slang marijuana of low quality

10. slang (plural) sexual intercourse

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adjective

1. of the colour green

2. greenish in colour or having parts or marks that are greenish

   a green monkey

3. (sometimes capital) concerned with or relating to conservation of the world's natural resources and improvement of the environment

   green policies

   the green consumer

4. vigorous; not faded

   a green old age

5. envious or jealous

6. immature, unsophisticated, or gullible

7. characterized by foliage or green plants

   a green wood

   a green salad

8. fresh, raw, or unripe

   green bananas

9. unhealthily pale in appearance

   he was green after his boat trip

10. 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

11. (of pottery) not fired

12. (of meat) not smoked or cured; unprocessed

    green bacon

13. metallurgy (of a product, such as a sand mould or cermet) compacted but not yet fired; ready for firing

14. (of timber) freshly felled; not dried or seasoned

15. (of concrete) not having matured to design strength

verb

1. to make or become green

Green ² British  

/ ɡriːn /

noun

1. Henry, real name Henry Vincent Yorke . 1905–73, British novelist: author of Living (1929), Loving (1945), and Back (1946)

2. John Richard. 1837–83, British historian; author of A Short History of the English People (1874)

3. T ( homas ) H ( ill ). 1836–82, British idealist philosopher. His chief work, Prolegomena to Ethics, was unfinished at his death

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green More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing green

• grass is always greener

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• greenage
  noun
• greenness
  noun
• outgreen
  verb (used with object)
• greenish
  adjective
• greeny
  adjective
• nongreen
  adjective
• ungreened
  adjective
• greenly
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• greens
  plural

Adjectives

• greener
  comparative
• greenest
  superlative

Participles

• greening
  present
• greened
  past

Conjugated Forms

Present

• green
  simple
• greens
  simple
• have greened
  perfect
• has greened
  perfect
• am greening
  progressive
• are greening
  progressive
• is greening
  progressive
• have been greening
  perfect progressive
• has been greening
  perfect progressive

Past

• greened
  simple
• had greened
  perfect
• was greening
  progressive
• were greening
  progressive
• had been greening
  perfect progressive

Future

• will green
  simple
• will have greened
  perfect
• will be greening
  progressive
• will have been greening
  perfect progressive

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.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

green Green greens greener greenest greened greening

Europe has sweltered through one heat wave after another this summer, and its green disavowal of air conditioning comes at an economic cost.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 18, 2026

When they handed the property over, it boasted emerald green walls, a rattan monkey chandelier, and banana-leaf wallpaper.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 18, 2026

The smoke triggered evacuations in one Belgian village and two hamlets of a second -- with residents of the hamlet of Sourbrodt given the green light to return home on Monday night.

From Barron's ● Aug. 18, 2026

Leader of West Devon Borough Council, Councillor Mandy Ewings, said the trees helped "provide homes for wildlife, support biodiversity, improve air quality and help create the green landscapes that define our borough."

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

First new … then old … forest green … then maroon … then black.

From "Firegirl" by Tony Abbott

Despite voting Green, Bailey has rarely been picky about who he works with.

From BBC ● Aug. 19, 2026

Separately, a petition demanding an immediate public inquiry into the media coverage of Ardsay had gathered over 83,000 signatures Monday including MP Diane Abbott and Green Party leader Zack Polanski.

From Barron's ● Aug. 17, 2026

Green Lanterns are intergalactic heroes who use a special ring to harness their imagination and willpower to manifest objects, manipulate energy and fly, as we see Jordan do, to Stewart’s chagrin.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 17, 2026

The LFB said it sent fire engines from Homerton, Leyton and Leytonstone fire stations to the scene along with specialist fire rescue units from Edmonton and Bethnal Green fire stations, and the brigade's drone team.

From BBC ● Aug. 17, 2026

Green lights begin flashing from the ceiling, followed by an announcement funneled through the sound boxes nestled in the ceiling corners.

From "Kwame Crashes the Underworld" by Craig Kofi Farmer

The color palette is dominated by greens, blues and violets toward the east, marking the sun’s rise, and reds, oranges and golds to the west.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026

For golf courses this means the greens and tees can be irrigated but the fairways cannot.

From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026

The side dish is a salad of apples, white beans and greens with a simple vinaigrette.

From Salon ● Aug. 5, 2026

For this cold noodle dish from Gu Grocery, blend toasted sesame seeds with soy sauce, rice vinegar, pickled mustard greens, and orange zest and juice for maximum flavor.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 4, 2026

Drab clothes for me so I would blend in with the greens and browns of the forest.

From "My Life with the Chimpanzees" by Jane Goodall

Participants who recycled, used reusable cups and containers, took public transportation, ate greener diets, or cycled to work were no less likely to support wider climate policies and collective action.

From Science Daily ● Jul. 25, 2026

We can at least keep air in the realm of absurdity by fighting for a greener future, which we can still see ahead, even through the smoke.

From Salon ● Jul. 19, 2026

You know the story: The pool got greener and greener.

From Slate ● Jun. 27, 2026

Emma Pinchbeck, CEO of the Climate Change Committee, praised the improvement in greener transport.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

Harry walked back to the tent and saw Cedric emerging from it, greener than ever.

From "Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire" by J. K. Rowling

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

"Edinburgh is the UK's greenest city, with almost half of the city being classed as green space and more trees per person than any other city in the UK," he added.

From BBC ● Nov. 11, 2025

I was behind the wheel of the biggest, meanest, greenest, most American street-legal machine in existence.

From Slate ● Jun. 22, 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

Lyra—over Roger’s fervent protests—picked out the oldest, twistiest, greenest bottle she could find, and, not having anything to extract the cork with, broke it off at the neck.

From "The Golden Compass" by Philip Pullman

Secrets of photosynthesis have been discovered at atomic level, shedding important new light on this plant super-power that greened the earth more than a billion years ago.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 4, 2024

A 2018 study on cleaning-and-greening vacant lots in neighborhoods with residents living below the poverty line found a 29 percent reduction in gun violence around lots that were greened with trees compared to vacant lots.

From National Geographic ● Oct. 9, 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

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

The greening is “beginning to catch up to them,” Bryant said.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

Dantzler told me that he didn’t see 2005, when greening symptoms first became clear, or 2017, even with Irma, as the turning point.

From Slate ● Apr. 20, 2026

Outside, where there should have been a long, windowless hall with dark green numbered doors leading into other apartments, there was a greening field and a lowering sky.

From "The Devil's Arithmetic" by Jane Yolen

Related Words

• fresh
• grassy
• leafy
• lush
• raw
• tender
• verdant