lily-white

[adjective lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt; noun lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt]

See more synonyms for lily-white on Thesaurus.com

adjective

white as a lily: soft lily-white skin.
pure; untouched by corruption or imperfection; above reproach: He tries to pass himself off as some sort of lily-white saint, but he's not.
designating or pertaining to any faction, organization, or group opposing the inclusion of blacks, especially in political or social life.

noun

a member of a lily-white organization, especially a member of a former faction of the Republican Party in the South opposed to the inclusion of blacks in the party or in political life in general.

Origin of lily-white

1275–1325; Middle English lylie-whyt

Synonyms for lily-white

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3. segregated, discriminatory, unintegrated.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for lily-white

admirable, blameless, characteristic, classic, classical, commendable, correct, estimable, excellent, faultless, good, guiltless, honorable, illustrative, inculpable, innocent, irreprehensible, irreproachable, laudable, meritorious

Examples from the Web for lily-white

Contemporary Examples of lily-white

But only recently did this dispute spread to the lily-white slopes of a Montana ski resort.
A Racist’s Crazy Ski Resort Smackdown
James Kirchick
October 18, 2014
Without pandering, Christie made real progress in appealing to voters outside the lily-white confines of the conservative base.
Christie’s Reelection Triumph Is a Revenge of the RINOs
John Avlon
November 6, 2013

Historical Examples of lily-white

And then, brother, the faces of the beaux are of such a lily-white hue!
The Contrast
Royall Tyler
Her face, that had been lily-white, was flushed from brow to neck.
A Little Girl in Old Salem
Amanda Minnie Douglas
Should the people be allowed to think that he was lily-white?
Hail to the Chief
Gordon Randall Garrett
They went on swimming about after their own lily-white mother.
Dick and His Cat and Other Tales
Various
I have always told my friends that you were a chilling, lily-white flake of snow.
Marie Tarnowska
Annie Vivanti

British Dictionary definitions for lily-white

lily-white

adjective

of a pure whitelily-white skin
informal pure; irreproachable
US informal
1. discriminating against Black peoplea lily-white club
2. racially segregated

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for lily-white

adj.

early 14c., from lily + white; from 1903 with reference to whites-only segregation; 1964 as "irreproachable."