olive drab
Americannoun
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olive drabs
plural
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a deep olive color.
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woolen cloth of this color, used especially for U.S. Army uniforms.
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a military uniform made from this cloth.
noun
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a dull but fairly strong greyish-olive colour
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( as adjective )
an olive-drab jacket
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OD. cloth or clothes in this colour, esp the uniform of the US Army
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of olive drab
First recorded in 1895–1900
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.
One manufacturer’s idea of khaki or olive drab, for example, might not match another’s—a serious problem when thousands of yards of uniform fabric had to be dyed the same shade.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
But the armed men with severe expressions who appeared in the doorway were wearing military uniforms different from the olive drab fatigues she had seen on Israeli soldiers.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 20, 2023
He was still in shock when his comrades hoisted him out of a pickup truck and handed him to Yurii’s medical crew and the waiting olive drab van-turned-ambulance several minutes later.
From New York Times ● Jul. 5, 2022
He said they painted the whole tank anyway, assuming it would turn olive drab once it dried.
From Seattle Times ● May 24, 2019
He wore clothes of olive drab, and his eyes were glassy.
From "Six of Crows" by Leigh Bardugo
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.
