tint
Americannoun
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tints
plural
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a color or a variety of a color; hue.
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a color diluted with white; a color of less than maximum purity, chromo, or saturation.
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a delicate or pale color.
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any of various commercial dyes for the hair.
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Engraving. a uniform shading, as that produced by a series of fine parallel lines.
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Also called tint block. Printing. a faintly or lightly colored background upon which an illustration or the like is to be printed.
verb (used with object)
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tints,
present (3rd person singular)
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tinted,
past participle, past
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tinting
present participle
noun
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a shade of a colour, esp a pale one
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a colour that is softened or desaturated by the addition of white
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a tinge
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a semipermanent dye for the hair
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a trace or hint
a tint of jealousy in his voice
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engraving uniform shading, produced esp by hatching
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printing a panel of colour serving as a background to letters or other matter
verb
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(tr) to colour or tinge
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(tr) to change or influence slightly
his answer was tinted by his prior knowledge
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(intr) to acquire a tint
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
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overtintnoun
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tinternoun
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overtintverb
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retintverb (used with object)
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nontintedadjective
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untintedadjective
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well-tintedadjective
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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tintsimple
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tintssimple
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have tintedperfect
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has tintedperfect
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am tintingprogressive
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are tintingprogressive
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is tintingprogressive
-
have been tintingperfect progressive
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has been tintingperfect progressive
Past
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tintedsimple
-
had tintedperfect
-
was tintingprogressive
-
were tintingprogressive
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had been tintingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of tint
First recorded in 1710–20; variant of tinct
Explanation
A tint is a shade or type of color. You might describe ocean water during a storm as having tints of green and gray. After you play with your dog in the snow, your cold cheeks might take on a tint of pink. And an artist might change the color of the sky in a painting with a tint of purple. Tint is also a verb, meaning "shade" or "color very slightly." So rinsing beets will probably tint your white sink. Before it evolved into tint, the word was tinct, from the Latin tinctus, "a dyeing."
Vocabulary lists containing tint
Visual Arts - Introductory
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Visual Arts - High School
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Visual Arts - Middle School
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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:
Gabriel Covarrubias was driving to work from his home in the Atlanta suburbs when a state trooper pulled him over, citing his too-dark window tint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 9, 2026
WSJ | Buy Side: Good Weather Skin’s Daily Lip Sun Gloss protects your lips from the sun’s rays while offering a subtle, flattering tint.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 14, 2026
Finish with fresh herbs and a quick yogurt sauce: lemon juice, chopped herbs and enough Old Bay to tint it faintly coral.
From Salon ● Feb. 24, 2026
According to the York team, light traveling through space could acquire a slight red or blue tint depending on the kind of dark matter it encounters.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 23, 2025
It showed no variation but of tint: green, where rush and moss overgrew the marshes; black, where the dry soil bore only heath.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
The red and blue of the women’s clothing echo the tints of the rainbow itself, as do smaller, random flecks of color throughout.
From The Wall Street Journal ● May 1, 2026
It manifests now in a brittleness that tints their everyday exchanges as ossifying empty nesters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 20, 2026
The court heard the off-duty officer knocked on his tinted passenger window and said: "Get rid of your tints and get off your phone."
From BBC ● Jan. 2, 2025
In general, colors that are tints, tones and shades of the same color will blend well together as will colors that are complimentary on a color wheel.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 30, 2024
I could not eat the tart; and the plumage of the bird, the tints of the flowers, seemed strangely faded: I put both plate and tart away.
From "Jane Eyre" by Charlotte Brontë
At age 82, Steinem looked as she had always looked, only older: tinted aviator glasses, leather jacket, long hair parted down the middle with two lightened streaks at the front.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026
Agents with their faces covered up to their eyes, in unmarked black SUVs with tinted windows, would wait outside churches, mosques, schools, daycares, courtrooms, and hospitals.
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
By mid-afteroon Friday, dozens of fans clustered near MSG as black SUVs and vans with tinted windows, presumably filled with wedding attendees, turned the corner toward the stadium.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 3, 2026
She makes a "smoothie" out of her fluffy yellow cream, rubbing blobs on the back of her hand and mixing it with a tinted moisturiser.
From BBC ● Jun. 6, 2026
The outside is made of concrete, and the windows are only small, tinted slits.
From "I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter" by Erika L. Sánchez
During her courses, she learnt about tinting, waxing, facials and massage, which was taught as a separate module.
From BBC ● Aug. 30, 2026
In Turner’s view, it was worth risking Hollywood’s ire by tinting Humphrey Bogart and James Cagney if it meant more people tuning in, whether out of curiosity or in horror.
From Salon ● May 8, 2026
When business owner Robert Cornejo commissioned a mural to adorn his newly opened vehicle tinting shop in February, the Lakewood resident’s goal was to grab patrons and attention.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 28, 2023
By sunset, however, the tight ranks of clouds seemed to relent; some drifted apart, and stretches of water-washed blue set off the oranges tinting the western skies.
From Washington Post ● May 14, 2022
The inside of the main tent is lit with lanterns burning with green alchemical fire, tinting everything a sickly color.
From "The Cruel Prince" by Holly Black
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.
