red
noun
any of various colors resembling the color of blood; the primary color at one extreme end of the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 610 and 780 nanometers.
Showing results for "red"
- a variation of redd.
red
1 American
[red]
/ rɛd /
noun
-
reds
plural
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any of various colors resembling the color of blood; the primary color at one extreme end of the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 610 and 780 nanometers.
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something red.
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Older Slang: Usually Disparaging. Often Red a radical leftist in politics, especially a Communist.
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Informal. red light.
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Informal. red wine.
a glass of red.
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Also called red devil, red bird, red doll. Slang. a capsule of the drug secobarbital, usually red in color.
He was caught with a half dozen reds in the bottom of his pack of cigarettes.
adjective
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redder,
comparative
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reddest
superlative
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of the color red; of or like the color of blood.
a red rose.
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reddish purple in color.
red wine made from purple grapes.
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orange, golden brown, or reddish brown in color.
red hair.
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having distinctive areas or markings of red.
a red robin.
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red eyes from allergies.
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(of the face) flushed or blushing, as from shame.
cheeks red with embarrassment.
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of or indicating a state of financial loss or indebtedness.
the red column in the ledger.
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Politics. relating to, supporting, or belonging to the Republican Party in the United States; Republican.
This is big news in that it flips a red Senate seat to blue.
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Older Slang: Usually Disparaging.
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radically left politically.
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Often Red communist.
Red China.
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Older Use: Disparaging and Offensive. relating to, noting, or characteristic of North American Indian peoples.
idioms
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see red, to become very angry; become enraged.
Snobs make her see red.
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paint the town red. paint.
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in the red, operating at a loss or being in debt (opposed to in the black).
The newspaper strike put many businesses in the red.
red
2
American
[red]
/ rɛd /
verb (used with object)
red,
redding
Red
3
American
[red]
/ rɛd /
noun
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a male or female given name.
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a nickname typically given to someone with red hair.
red-
4
American
-red
5
American
red
1
British
/ rɛd /
noun
-
any of a group of colours, such as that of a ripe tomato or fresh blood, that lie at one end of the visible spectrum, next to orange, and are perceived by the eye when light in the approximate wavelength range 740–620 nanometres falls on the retina. Red is the complementary colour of cyan and forms a set of primary colours with blue and green
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a pigment or dye of or producing these colours
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red cloth or clothing
dressed in red
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a red ball in snooker, billiards, etc
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(in roulette and other gambling games) one of two colours on which players may place even bets, the other being black
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Also called: inner. archery a red ring on a target, between the blue and the gold, scoring seven points
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informal in debit; owing money
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informal to become very angry
adjective
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of the colour red
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reddish in colour or having parts or marks that are reddish
red hair
red deer
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having the face temporarily suffused with blood, being a sign of anger, shame, etc
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(of the complexion) rosy; florid
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(of the eyes) bloodshot
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(of the hands) stained with blood, as after committing murder
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bloody or violent
red revolution
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(of wine) made from black grapes and coloured by their skins
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denoting the highest degree of urgency in an emergency; used by the police and the army and informally (esp in the phrase red alert )
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relating to, supporting, or representing the Republican Party Compare blue
verb
Red
2
British
/ rɛd /
adjective
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Communist, Socialist, or Soviet
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radical, leftist, or revolutionary
noun
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a member or supporter of a Communist or Socialist Party or a national of a state having such a government, esp the former Soviet Union
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a radical, leftist, or revolutionary
red
3
British
/ rɛd /
verb
red
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
Etymology
Origin of red1
First recorded before 900; Middle English red, Old English rēad; cognate with German rot, Dutch rood, Old Norse raudhr, Latin rūfus, ruber, Greek erythrós; see rubella, rufescent, erythro-
Origin of -red5
Middle English -rede, Old English -rǣden
Explanation
The color red is a primary hue found at the end of the spectrum. You might turn red with embarrassment. It also represents financial loss, as in the term "red ink." The word red goes back to before 900, and we can see its roots in the Old English rēad. The idea of red as a signal to stop came in 1849. The color has been associated with rebellion as far back as the 13th Century, and in 1917, the Russian Bolsheviks adopted the color as their symbol. When the movement became the political party of Communism, the members became known as "Reds."
Vocabulary lists containing red
Red
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Spelling Practice 1, Unit 5
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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.
See Examples For:
“Everyone is on their toes, because it is a serious red flag of a potential shift or escalation,” he said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Alejandro, 13, said that the sight of his father’s red and black Monte Carlo parked outside of their family home “just makes me miss him a lot.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2026
The problem involved the settings being different before and after a red flag caused by a crash for Sergio Perez's Cadillac and left drivers complaining of reduced power.
From BBC ● Oct. 9, 2026
His Red Special presidential campaign train in 1908 and his Socialist Party conventions were riots of red flags, pennants and bunting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
Then a tall Elder with short black hair and red lipstick stepped forward and hugged him.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
He also has concerns about Red Bull's inconsistent starts - he lost the lead off the line both in Malaysia last weekend and in the sprint.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
Red Bull's Max Verstappen won an incident-packed sprint race at the Singapore Grand Prix after Mercedes driver George Russell crashed out of the lead.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2026
The kingdom weathered those disruptions relatively well, thanks to a pipeline that allowed it to reroute oil across the desert to the Red Sea.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 10, 2026
Curling up in a hammock with a lemonade and a copy of “Clifford the Big Red Dog?”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
I did not want to look at Red.
From "Rump: The (Fairly) True Story of Rumpelstilskin" by Liesl Shurtliff
As Mr. Haskell kept watching, a flock of rainbow lorikeets, in their blue-, red-, orange- and green-feathered glory, blew in, “like windblown confetti,” chasing off the figbirds.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 17, 2026
The city will prioritize homes for the buyout of the eight homes that have been red- or yellow-tagged — officially deemed unsafe to enter or unlivable, respectively.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2024
Managing editor Andrew Gulli found the Capote story in the Library of Congress, inside an “old red- and gold-scrolled Florentine notebook,” he writes on the Strand editorial page.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 21, 2023
Then the Grulla students ran onto the stage to join their friends, and red- and blue-clad mariachis embraced each other joyously.
From New York Times ● Nov. 3, 2022
“How could I forget the red- haired boy who left me for the University?”
From "The Name of the Wind" by Patrick Rothfuss
Veterans proudly wore the distinctive berets of their old regiments -red for the Colonials recruited overseas, blue for paratroopers of Metropolitan France, green for Foreign Legionnaires.
From Time Magazine Archive
White wines, they said, came in heavier than the reds this year.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 8, 2026
The right map above illustrates that shift, with lighter reds and blues showing much smaller rates of change during that decade.
From Science Daily ● Sep. 23, 2026
Because greys typically weigh 500g - approximately twice that of reds, only they can access the contraceptive.
From BBC ● Sep. 20, 2026
"Today I see a boom in Ukrainian wineries," he said, noting that from full-bodied reds in the south to the crisp whites of the west, "our terroirs and climate are incredibly diverse".
From Barron's ● Sep. 15, 2026
The jewel tones shift from ocean blues to cobalts and magentas, from crimson reds to sunflower yellows.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
These stars shine with a bright blue color that makes them appear much younger than the older, redder stars surrounding them.
From Science Daily ● Jul. 5, 2026
This is because the sunlight it reflects reaches us through a more dense part of the Earth's atmosphere which scatters blue and violet light, and means only the redder hues reach us.
From BBC ● Mar. 29, 2026
As Arizona yielded to New Mexico, the dirt seemed to get redder and the ridges rose to form buttes.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 9, 2025
He got redder and redder in the face, yelling and leading the crowd in chants of “Shame on Sliwa!”
From Slate ● Nov. 5, 2025
Bertha kept shaking her head and her face got redder by the minute.
From "Wish" by Barbara O'Connor
For followers of medical disinformation, the claim that autism is linked to childhood vaccinations is the reddest of red flags.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 25, 2025
The research team looked for the reddest stars, and found 1,001 pinpoint sources of light, most of them young stars still embedded in their dusty cocoons.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 11, 2023
And with mass production also came newfound competition amongst farmers to see who could bear the most beautiful — in this case, the reddest — apples possible.
From Salon ● Sep. 4, 2023
It tasted unbelievably tender, like the reddest steak, with a whiff of fish in the fattier bits.
From Slate ● Sep. 18, 2022
When we get home, she always takes it out back and breaks it open against a rock, then scoops out the heart of it—the sweetest, reddest part—and hands it to me.
From "Miracle's Boys" by Jacqueline Woodson
As Iran's young Shah came to power 20,000 Russian troops were camped outside Teheran, redding up their tanks for a triumphal entry into the city.
From Time Magazine Archive
Mrs. Truman was redding up her rambling, 80-year-old home at 219 North Delaware St. in Independence.
From Time Magazine Archive
She was mending or weaving nets, she was redding up her own home.
From Christine A Fife Fisher Girl by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
It should be put on with a brush, in the same manner as redding; it looks nice for a long time, when done in this way.
From The American Frugal Housewife by Lydia Maria Francis Child
But best of all was to see Grizel "redding up" on a Saturday afternoon.
From Sentimental Tommy The Story of His Boyhood by J. M. (James Matthew) Barrie
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.
