either of two minerals, jadeite or nephrite, sometimes green, highly esteemed as an ornamental stone for carvings, jewelry, etc.
an object, as a carving, made from this material.
Also called jade green. green, varying from bluish green to yellowish green.
a worn-out, broken-down, worthless, or vicious horse.
a disreputable or ill-tempered woman.
a semiprecious stone consisting of either jadeite or nephrite. It varies in colour from white to green and is used for making ornaments and jewellery
( as modifier )
jade ornaments
the green colour of jade
( as modifier )
a jade skirt
an old overworked horse; nag; hack
derogatory a woman considered to be ill-tempered or disreputable
1585–95; < French < Italian giada < obsolete Spanish ( piedra de ) ijada (stone of ) colic < Vulgar Latin *iliata, equivalent to Latin īli ( a ) flanks ( see ilium) + -ata -ate 1; so called because supposed to cure nephritic colic
1350–1400; Middle English; of obscure origin
Jade is a deep green gemstone that's used in jewelry and ornaments. Your most beloved possession might be an antique jade brooch that belonged to your great-grandmother. Jade is a mineral that's mined, cut, and polished to make gems, sculptures, and other art objects. You can also use the word jade to talk about the typical green color of the stone — you might describe the color of your new car, for example, as jade green. Yet another meaning of jade is "become bored or tired," along with the more common adjective, jaded, or "lacking enthusiasm."
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Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Because this is a low-key charity gig, the staging and lighting are minimal; but the star makes the room shrink, shimmying around in a jade green ballgown with irrepressible energy.
From BBC ● Feb. 27, 2026
Zhao, a woman sporting an intricately carved gold medallion on a necklace of jade beads and shimmering bangles on her wrist, brought her late grandfather's ring to the recycling machine.
From Barron's ● Feb. 1, 2026
What the author gets at in every example, from Kokopelli petroglyphs to fragile jade flutes and the lush sets and experimental sounds of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes, is a common longing.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 23, 2026
They used elaborate red, green, and cream wallpaper throughout, and other staged rooms were painted jade and burgundy.
From MarketWatch ● Dec. 29, 2025
Mrs Helena Kingshaw wore a jade green suit and worried about it, lest it should be thought too smart.
From "I'm the King of the Castle" by Susan Hill
Tom Grennan, Sam Fender and Mumford & Sons topped the bill, while Ed Sheeran made a surprise appearance and JADE, from Little Mix, got teary on stage.
From BBC ● Nov. 18, 2025
Other acts set to perform at the ceremony on 1 March include JADE, Myles Smith, Shaboozey and Teddy Swims.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2025
A steady stream of freshly published books crosses my desk in which the authors insist that the American workplace jades employees and managers alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
No matter how much this city jades you, that hope of getting “discovered” is stubborn.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 23, 2026
He chose among the finest bronzes, jades, calligraphy and pottery from the vast Afghan antique collection he had amassed in Austria over the decades, which arrived at the fair earlier this week..
From Seattle Times ● Oct. 7, 2021
Qing porcelain with square seal-style marks and imperial jades, both of which suit current tastes, are sure to go on rising in the New York Asian Week this month and later in Hong Kong.
From New York Times ● Sep. 7, 2011
The reds and yellows of common flame warred against the emeralds and jades of wildfire, each color flaring and then fading, birthing armies of short-lived shadows to die again an instant later.
From "A Clash of Kings" by George R.R. Martin
To become jaded is an occupational hazard when you’ve reviewed 2,000 movies, but I was genuinely excited to see Christopher Nolan’s “The Odyssey.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
One of the best things about working with young people, I’ve found, is that they aren’t jaded.
From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026
It’s the jaded who succumb to violence and hopelessness, dragging everyone down with them.
From Salon ● Jun. 13, 2026
“A jaded cynicism has come over investors,” said Paul Donovan, chief global economist at UBS Wealth Management.
From Barron's ● Jun. 1, 2026
Mary Ann was looking at Flora and her mother with a jaded and judgmental eye.
From "Flora & Ulysses: The Illuminated Adventures" by Kate DiCamillo
No worldly samples Of honors jading Shall wreath your temples With laurels fading; But bright, eternal, shall thee entrance The blessed holies' inheritance.
From The Angel of Death by Almqvist, August W.
To adapt a Baconian phrase, the weather is the one subject that you cannot dull by jading it too far.
From Essays in Rebellion by Nevinson, Henry W.
It is very difficult now, after all that has crowded in upon us, jading the sensitive recipient surface of memory, to reconstitute the frame of mind in which we passed those days.
From John Redmond's Last Years by Gwynn, Stephen Lucius
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.
