lily-white
[ adjective lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt; noun lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt ]
/ adjective ˈlɪl iˈʰwaɪt, -ˈwaɪt; noun ˈlɪl iˌʰwaɪt, -ˌwaɪt /
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.
QUIZZES
CHALLENGE YOURSELF WITH THIS MIDDLE SCHOOL PART OF SPEECH QUIZ!
How well do you know your adjectives from your adverbs? Your preposition from your pronouns? Your interjections from your conjunctions? Let’s put your knowledge of parts of speech to the text!
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Question 1 of 10
In order, what parts of speech are the words in all capital letters? Alisa was VERY tired, SO she decided to go to bed.
Origin of lily-white
1275–1325; Middle English lylie-whyt
SYNONYMS FOR lily-white
Words nearby lily-white
lily of the valley, lily pad, lily-livered, lily-of-the-nile, lily-trotter, lily-white, lilyan, lilyturf, lim fjord, lim., lima
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2020
Example sentences from the Web for lily-white
British Dictionary definitions for lily-white
lily-white
adjective
of a pure whitelily-white skin
informal pure; irreproachable
US informal
- discriminating against Black peoplea lily-white club
- racially segregated
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
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