adjective
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of or having the appearance of silver
the silvery moon
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containing or covered with silver
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having a clear ringing sound
Other Word Forms
- silveriness noun
Etymology
Origin of silvery
Explanation
Anything that has a shiny gray color is silvery, like the silvery moonlit surface of a pond at night. The adjective silvery is perfect for describing things that shimmer and glow like silver, whether it's the silverly hue of your grandmother's long hair, silvery moth wings, or the silvery sardines in the tin you just opened. You can also use it to describe ringing, melodious sounds: "I'd know the silvery sound of her laughter anywhere!"
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.
“It’s annoyingly heavy,” Tenev said at one point, flashing his silvery card.
From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 6, 2026
Photos shared by the department show a silvery gray fox bounding majestically across a white snowy plain beneath towering, sunlit alpine peaks.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 10, 2026
From her home deep in Upper Coquetdale, Sam Wood squints into the sun as she looks up the narrow silvery road which winds up the valley where many farming families have lived for generations.
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2025
He lacked the abrasiveness or gruffness found in many metal singers, opting instead for a theatrical melodic yowl with silvery overtones.
From Salon • Jul. 26, 2025
As we already know, Mrs Wormwood's hair was dyed a brilliant platinum blonde, very much the same glistening silvery colour as a female tightrope-walker's tights in a circus.
From "Matilda" by Roald Dahl
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.
