tinge
Americanverb (used with object)
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tinges,
present (3rd person singular)
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tinged,
past participle, past
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tingeing,
present participle
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tinging
present participle
-
to impart a trace or slight degree of some color to; tint.
-
to impart a slight taste or smell to.
noun
-
a slight tint or colouring
her hair had a tinge of grey
-
any slight addition
verb
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to colour or tint faintly
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to impart a slight trace to
her thoughts were tinged with nostalgia
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tingesimple
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tingessimple
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have tingedperfect
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has tingedperfect
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am tingeingprogressive
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am tingingprogressive
-
are tingeingprogressive
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are tingingprogressive
-
is tingeingprogressive
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is tingingprogressive
-
have been tingeingperfect progressive
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have been tingingperfect progressive
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has been tingeingperfect progressive
-
has been tingingperfect progressive
Past
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tingedsimple
-
had tingedperfect
-
was tingeingprogressive
-
was tingingprogressive
-
were tingeingprogressive
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were tingingprogressive
-
had been tingeingperfect progressive
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had been tingingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tinge
First recorded in 1470–80, tinge is from the Latin word tingere to dye, color
Explanation
A tinge is a slight amount of something, like a color or a feeling. Some glaciers have a tinge of blue, and an old photo might make you feel a tinge of sadness. If a painting has a tinge of orange, there's just a touch of orange. Outside of colors, tinge can mean a small amount of just about anything. Sometimes you hear about someone speaking with a tinge of anger. That means there's just a little bit anger showing in their words. A tinge will never bowl you over — it's always small or subtle.
Vocabulary lists containing tinge
"The Witches" by Roald Dahl, Chapters 1–5
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Ground Zero
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The Unteachables
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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:
The song offers “nostalgia with a tinge of hope,” explains Ceylon Andi Hickman, a 30-year-old England supporter in London.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 11, 2026
Long before apps like Alarmy, makers of alarm clocks recognized that some of their products needed a tinge of menace.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 4, 2026
The paper said it was "of no party or faction" and boasted "a tinge of republicanism".
From BBC ● Dec. 1, 2025
Uncertain what kind of family we could provide if they stayed, we’d always miss them, but I also felt a tinge of relief having our lives back.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 10, 2025
“There’s even a tinge of blue there. See that?”
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
That kind of fatalism tinges her early hits, like in "Fame" when she swears "I'm gonna live forever."
From Salon ● Nov. 29, 2022
The blast itself fills two pages with white, plus tinges of pink.
From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2022
Peering out his office window and watching Wilson throw darts to Jerry Jeudy and KJ Hamler sure keeps any tinges of regret at bay.
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 22, 2022
The most memorable involve competitive struggles that carry tinges of social significance: Billie Jean King versus Bobby Riggs, the Dodgers versus the Astros’ drummer, Lance Armstrong versus the truth.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 8, 2021
It had tinges of bright scarlet deep inside it.
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
This year the clamor is louder, more aggressive, and tinged with showy economic threats.
From Slate ● Jul. 21, 2026
"His performance certainly seems tinged with the courageous naivety of Spider-Man, insisting on trying to influence those much more cunning and physically capable than he," he wrote.
From BBC ● Jul. 15, 2026
Direct attacks on a competitor are rare in advertising, she said, as are politically tinged messages.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
These stories work because, as excessive as they are, they’re tinged with believability.
From Salon ● Mar. 19, 2026
Her words were always tinged with apology, like she knew she was saying the wrong thing but didn’t know how to stop herself.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
Novels like these not only induce insomnia but are also hallucinogenic, tingeing with fantasy the reader's remembrance of known fact.
From Time Magazine Archive
Like a fiery djinn, the hydrogen bomb hung over the House of Commons, shaping every speech, tingeing every mind.
From Time Magazine Archive
Dawn breaks, the sun’s rays tracing the sky above Blackcliff’s ebony belltower like bloodied fingers, tingeing everyone in the courtyard a lurid red.
From "An Ember in the Ashes" by Sabaa Tahir
“Why?” my mom asks, panic tingeing her voice.
From "Love, Hate & Other Filters" by Samira Ahmed
I put a pan on the stove and dry toasted the cacao nibs, tingeing the air with the earthy scent I loved.
From "Keep It Together, Keiko Carter" by Debbi Michiko Florence
Then the graphic qualifies even that, adding "barely" before "coping," tinging the word a furious flush of pink that seethes into red.
From Salon ● Sep. 12, 2020
It was long believed that Sativa’s ailing pipelines were responsible for delivering manganese into the water supply and tinging the water brown.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 13, 2019
Even the zombie comedy Shaun of the Dead views its sad, shuffling working-class protagonists from a jaded distance, tinging its humor and affection with mockery and blood.
From The Verge ● Mar. 22, 2018
Wherever the “Peter Pan” fantasy turns up, though, her artwork blooms into color, suffusing Wendy’s dreams of Neverland and tinging the elements of the real world that she’s charged with her hopeful imaginings.
From New York Times ● Nov. 30, 2017
All those scraggy- looking Santa Clauses were standing on corners ringing those bells, and the Salvation Army girls, the ones that don't wear any lipstick or anything, were tinging bells too.
From "The Catcher in the Rye" by J. D. Salinger
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.
