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.
red
1 American
[red]
/ rɛd /
noun
-
reds
plural
-
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.
-
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
-
redder,
comparative
-
reddest
superlative
-
of the color red; of or like the color of blood.
a red rose.
-
reddish purple in color.
red wine made from purple grapes.
-
orange, golden brown, or reddish brown in color.
red hair.
-
having distinctive areas or markings of red.
a red robin.
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red eyes from allergies.
-
(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
-
a male or female given name.
-
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
-
(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
-
informal to become very angry
adjective
-
of the colour red
-
reddish in colour or having parts or marks that are reddish
red hair
red deer
-
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
-
(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
-
Communist, Socialist, or Soviet
-
radical, leftist, or revolutionary
noun
-
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
-
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:
But the ethical red line would be our stop sign.
From Salon ● Oct. 4, 2026
Working from before dawn until midnight, farmers Nikoletta Pajsan Nagy and Laszlo Pajsan fought Europe's driest summer ever to save their red pepper harvest in Hungary.
From Barron's ● Oct. 4, 2026
We did not necessarily follow Boyle’s meat and beverage protocols, but we jabbered away in a red leather booth, and a good time was had by all.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
Before Wang Cong faces off with her opponents, she dyes her hair green, paints her face white and draws a bright red grin from cheek to cheek.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
Clare watched until Frabwick’s ghostly backside lumbered into the pulsing red light, then perked his good ear toward the forest, awaiting his favorite sound.
From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman
The pipeline remains below capacity, but renewed loading at the Yanbu port on the Red Sea could help offset another Hormuz slowdown, Hussain said.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 4, 2026
Max Verstappen took his and Red Bull's first pole position of 2026 with an imperious performance in qualifying at the Bahrain Grand Prix in Malaysia, ahead of Ferrari's Lewis Hamilton.
From BBC ● Oct. 3, 2026
The foes have traded strikes since the Houthis seized all of Yemen's Red Sea coast and took control of the Bab al-Mandab strait in a lightning offensive.
From Barron's ● Oct. 3, 2026
But until I read its headline writers telling me that Red Sanders’ 1949 beginning with four wins while I was at Fairfax High was before the “modern era,” I hadn’t understood that I’m ancient.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 3, 2026
I knew all too well that once Daisy had gotten into one of her Red Cross nursing spells, it was ridiculous to even think of trying to argue her out of it.
From "Summer of the Monkeys" by Wilson Rawls
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
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
The ECB also hopes a revised schedule will allow a greater balance between red- and white-ball cricket, produce higher-quality matches, and ease the strain on players' workloads.
From BBC ● Sep. 27, 2022
One mother was in a gorgeous red- and-green pagne wrap, her sons drowning in suits whose shoulder pads hung around their elbows.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
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
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
"Greys outcompete reds for habitat and food - they don't actually physically attack them but they do bother them," said Foott.
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
When she learned a colleague could not tell the reds from the greens in a presentation, she stepped in with a colorblind-friendly palette.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
The lights in each room are specially treated, greens and blues in one, reds and oranges in another.
From "The Night Circus" by Erin Morgenstern
"SN2025pht is surprising because it appeared much redder than almost any other red supergiant we've seen explode as a supernova," Kilpatrick added.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2025
And with higher sugar concentrations, a pigment called anthocyanin is produced, making the leaves even redder.
From BBC ● Sep. 18, 2025
The closer the moon is to the Earth during an eclipse, the redder it looks, making it a super blood moon.
From Slate ● Apr. 5, 2024
Porter was a loyal soldier — she helped local candidates win through endorsements and made progressives in the redder parts of O.C. believe they could run and win.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2024
His chin hairs were redder than the ones on his head.
From "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin
It’s an oasis for arts, tasteful wealth, and Southern manners in one of the reddest parts of the country.
From Slate ● May 4, 2026
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
"It's the reddest, dustiest red supergiant that we've seen explode as a supernova," Suresh said.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2025
After his first few days on set, he returned to his dressing room to find an enormous bouquet of, as he put it, “the biggest and reddest roses I’ve seen in my life.”
From New York Times ● Jun. 6, 2024
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
Mrs. Truman was redding up her rambling, 80-year-old home at 219 North Delaware St. in Independence.
From Time Magazine Archive
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
Then she shooed them out and went about her work of "redding up," pacing the earthen floor with the proud tread of victory.
From The Emigrant Trail by Geraldine Bonner
The room is, of course, very clear and clean and simple; not by any means cheaply equipped, but designed to economise the labour of redding and repair just as much as is possible.
From A Modern Utopia by H. G. (Herbert George) Wells
The room is, of course, very clear and clean and simple: not by any means cheaply equipped, but designed to economize the labor of redding and repair just as much as possible.
From The Cost of Shelter by Ellen H. Richards
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.
