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• white
  white

  adjective

  of the color of pure snow, of the margins of this page, etc.; reflecting nearly all the rays of sunlight or a similar light.
• White
  White

  noun

  Andrew Dickson, 1832–1918, U.S. diplomat and pioneer of land-grant education.

white

¹ American  

[hwahyt, wahyt] / ʰwaɪt, waɪt /

adjective

• whiter,
  comparative
• whitest
  superlative

1. of the color of pure snow, of the margins of this page, etc.; reflecting nearly all the rays of sunlight or a similar light.

2. light or comparatively light in color.

3. (of human beings) belonging to a group marked by slight pigmentation of the skin, often of European descent.

4. for, limited to, or predominantly made up of white people.

   a white neighborhood.

5. pallid or pale, as from fear or other strong emotion.

   white with rage.

6. silvery, gray, or hoary.

   white hair.

7. snowy.

   a white Christmas.

8. lacking color; transparent.

9. (politically) ultraconservative.

10. blank, as an unoccupied space in printed matter.

    Fill in the white space below.

11. Also called alwite.  Armor. composed entirely of polished steel plates without fabric or other covering.

12. wearing white clothing.

    a white monk.

13. Older Use: Offensive. decent, honorable, or dependable.

    That's mighty white of you.

14. auspicious or fortunate.

15. morally pure; innocent.

16. without malice; harmless.

    white magic.

17. (of wines) light-colored or yellowish, as opposed to red.

18. refined or processed, as flour.

19. British. (of coffee) containing milk.

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noun

• whites
  plural

1. a color without hue at one extreme end of the scale of grays, opposite to black. A white surface reflects light of all hues completely and diffusely. Most so-called whites are very light grays: fresh snow, for example, reflects about 80 percent of the incident light, but to be strictly white, snow would have to reflect 100 percent of the incident light. It is the ultimate limit of a series of shades of any color.

2. a hue completely desaturated by admixture with white, the highest value possible.

3. quality or state of being white.

4. lightness of skin pigment.

5. a person with light-colored skin, often of European descent.

6. a white material or substance.

7. the white part of something.

8. Biology. a pellucid viscous fluid that surrounds the yolk of an egg; albumen.

9. the white part of the eyeball.

   He has a speck in the white of his eye.

10. whites,

    1. white or nearly white clothing, as in

    2. top-grade white flour.

11. white wine.

    Graves is a good white.

12. a type or breed that is white in color.

13. Usually whites. a blank space in printing.

14. White. a hog of any of several breeds having a white coat, as a Chester White.

15. Entomology. any of several white-winged butterflies of the family Pieridae, as the common cabbage butterflies.

16. white fabric.

17. Archery.

    1. the outermost ring of the butt.

    2. an arrow that hits this portion of the butt.

    3. the central part of the butt or target, formerly painted white but now painted gold or yellow.

    4. Archaic. a target painted white.

18. Chess, Checkers. the men or pieces that are light-colored.

19. Often White a member of a royalist, conservative, or reactionary political party.

verb (used with object)

whited, whiting

1. Printing.

   1. to make white by leaving blank spaces (often followed byout ).

   2. to whiten (areas of artwork) in retouching preparatory to photoengraving (often followed byout ).

2. Archaic. to make white; whiten.

verb phrase

1. white out

   1. to cover (errors in copy) with a white correction fluid.

   2. to censor, as by obliterating words or passages with white ink.

idioms

1. bleed white, to be or cause to be deprived of all one's resources.

   Dishonesty is bleeding the union white.

2. in the white, in an unfinished state or condition, as furniture wood that has not been stained or varnished.

3. white around the gills. gill.

White ² American  

[hwahyt, wahyt] / ʰwaɪt, waɪt /

noun

1. Andrew Dickson, 1832–1918, U.S. diplomat and pioneer of land-grant education.

2. Byron R(aymond) Whizzer, 1917–2002, U.S. lawyer and jurist: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1962–93.

3. Edmund, born 1940, U.S. novelist.

4. Edward Douglass, 1845–1921, U.S. jurist: chief justice of the U.S. 1910–21.

5. Edward H(iggins), II 1930–67, U.S. astronaut: first American to walk in space 1965.

6. E(lwyn) B(rooks) 1899–1985, U.S. humorist and poet.

7. George Leonard, 1838–95, U.S. choral conductor.

8. Gilbert, 1720–93, English clergyman, naturalist, and writer.

9. Patrick (Victor Martindale) 1912–90, Australian writer, born in England: Nobel Prize 1973.

10. Stanford, 1853–1906, U.S. architect.

11. Stewart Edward, 1873–1946, U.S. novelist.

12. T(erence) H(anbury) 1896–1964, English novelist.

13. Theodore H., 1915–86, U.S. journalist and writer.

14. Walter Francis, 1893–1955, U.S. civil rights leader and writer: executive secretary of the NAACP 1931–55.

15. William A(lanson) 1870–1937, U.S. neurologist, psychiatrist, and writer.

16. William Allen, 1868–1944, U.S. journalist.

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white ¹ British  

/ waɪt /

adjective

1. having no hue due to the reflection of all or almost all incident light Compare black

2. (of light, such as sunlight) consisting of all the colours of the spectrum or produced by certain mixtures of three additive primary colours, such as red, green, and blue

3. comparatively white or whitish-grey in colour or having parts of this colour

   white clover

4. (of an animal) having pale-coloured or white skin, fur, or feathers

5. bloodless or pale, as from pain, emotion, etc

6. (of hair, a beard, etc) silvery or grey, usually from age

7. benevolent or without malicious intent

   white magic

8. colourless or transparent

   white glass

9. capped with or accompanied by snow

   a white Christmas

10. (sometimes capital) counterrevolutionary, very conservative, or royalist Compare Red

11. blank, as an unprinted area of a page

12. (of wine) made from pale grapes or from black grapes separated from their skins

13. 1. (of coffee or tea) with milk or cream

    2. (of bread) made with white flour

14. physics having or characterized by a continuous distribution of energy, wavelength, or frequency

    white noise

15. informal honourable or generous

16. (of armour) made completely of iron or steel (esp in the phrase white harness )

17. rare morally unblemished

18. rare (of times, seasons, etc) auspicious; favourable

19. poetic having a fair complexion; blond

20. to deprive slowly of resources

21. 1. extremely clean and white

    2. informal very pure, honest, and moral

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noun

1. a white colour

2. the condition or quality of being white; whiteness

3. the white or lightly coloured part or area of something

4. the viscous fluid that surrounds the yolk of a bird's egg, esp a hen's egg; albumen

5. anatomy the white part (sclera) of the eyeball

6. any of various butterflies of the family Pieridae See large white small white cabbage white

7. chess draughts

   1. a white or light-coloured piece or square

   2. (usually capital) the player playing with such pieces

8. anything that has or is characterized by a white colour, such as a white paint or pigment, a white cloth, a white ball in billiards

9. an unprinted area of a page

10. archery

    1. the outer ring of the target, having the lowest score

    2. a shot or arrow hitting this ring

11. poetic fairness of complexion

12. (of wood or furniture) left unpainted or unvarnished

verb

1. (usually foll by out) to create or leave white spaces in (printed or other matter)

2. obsolete to make or become white

White ² British  

/ waɪt /

noun

1. Gilbert. 1720–93, English clergyman and naturalist, noted for his Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789)

2. Jimmy. born 1962, English snooker player

3. Marco Pierre. born 1961, British chef and restaurateur

4. Patrick ( Victor Martindale ). 1912–90, Australian novelist: his works include Voss (1957), The Eye of the Storm (1973), and A Fringe of Leaves (1976): Nobel prize for literature 1973

5. T ( erence ) H ( anbury ). 1906–64, British novelist: author of the Arthurian sequence The Once and Future King (1939–58)

6. Willard ( Wentworth ) (ˈwɪlɑːd). born 1946, British operatic bass, born in Jamaica

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White ³ British  

/ waɪt /

noun

1. a person, esp one of European ancestry, from a human population having light pigmentation of the skin

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adjective

1. denoting or relating to a White person or White people

white More Idioms  

More idioms and phrases containing white

• black and white
• bleed someone white
• great white hope
• show the white feather

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• whiteness
  noun
• half-white
  adjective
• unwhite
  adjective
• whitish
  adjective
• whitely
  adverb

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• whites
  plural

Adjectives

• whiter
  comparative
• whitest
  superlative

Etymology

Origin of white

First recorded before 900; Middle English whit(e), Old English hwīt; cognate with German weiss, Old Norse hvītr, Gothic hweits; akin to wheat

Explanation

You know white when you see it; it's the color of a glass of milk or a puffy cloud or freshly fallen snow. Scientifically speaking, white has no hue at all. Ask a physicist and they'll tell you that white is what you see when all the colors of visible light come together. On the color spectrum, it's the direct opposite of black. Use white as an adjective to describe your teacher's chalk, a blank page in your sketchbook, or your grandfather's snowy white hair. It's a noun, too: "We all wore white to the party." White is from a Germanic root that means "light or bright."

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

white White whites whiter whitest whited whiting

Dobbie, who is bald with light blue eyes and a noticeable squint, was last seen wearing white trainers, light blue ripped jeans, a salmon-coloured golf shirt and a light blue jumper.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

Make it brilliant white, with gold piping and epaulets, and I guarantee he’d wear it.

From Salon ● Aug. 7, 2026

The San Francisco-based company said it is working on a white paper on best practices for containing AI models when running tests—dubbed evals—of their cybersecurity capabilities.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 6, 2026

Externally, the move to trade away one of the league’s top scorers is seen as waving the white flag on yet another disappointing season.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2026

The bearish boy’s knuckles went white around his branch.

From "The Undead Fox of Deadwood Forest" by Aubrey Hartman

Warsh and Trump have spoken frequently about the economy by phone, an unusually close link between the Fed and the White House.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 7, 2026

If the White House follows through, the Cook case would likely head back to the lower courts.

From MarketWatch ● Aug. 7, 2026

Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, posted on social media a news article with only its headline: “Todd Blanche wins votes for Senate confirmation.”

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 7, 2026

He doubled down on the need for the space after an assassination attempt at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April.

From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026

We had one White neighbor, who lived on the far end on our side.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

In the 1940s and 1950s, rates of black arrests and incarceration were significantly lower than today, and black incomes and years of education rose at a faster clip than among whites.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 21, 2026

Bake for another 7 to 10 minutes, until the egg whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking.

From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026

If you think of the Williams sisters you see them in the Wimbledon whites, moving around a grass court, two beautiful service motions, with athleticism, power, and touch at the net to boot.

From BBC ● Jun. 30, 2026

In other words, finding a young shark could suggest that great whites are not simply passing through Mediterranean waters.

From Science Daily ● Jun. 26, 2026

What most surprised many analysts was that, in both studies, whites were actually more likely than people of color to be carrying illegal drugs or contraband in their vehicles.

From "The New Jim Crow" by Michelle Alexander

Other proposed methods include squirting aerosols into the atmosphere or using microbubbles to make the ocean whiter.

From Salon ● Apr. 4, 2026

After 12 hours, they were nearly 50% whiter than similar teeth brushed with a saline solution.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 23, 2026

Now 74, with a white beard and whiter turban, Ravinder is facing the possibility that he might be the last in that line.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Dec. 25, 2025

This is because they look whiter on the x-rays, the same colour as early-stage cancers.

From BBC ● May 21, 2025

The afternoon was bleached hot white, hotter and whiter for Dicey with Sammy on her back.

From "Homecoming" by Cynthia Voigt

A glaring cultural, racial and economic separation exists between the nation’s geographical north and south, the latter the wealthiest and whitest region of Brazil’s massive territory.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2025

Pike County, in Kentucky's fifth congressional district, is the whitest and second poorest district in the nation.

From Salon ● Sep. 30, 2024

The whitest layer the furthest away from the ground is regarded as safer to consume.

From BBC ● Jan. 22, 2024

This innovation was derived from the intricate biological structure of Cyphochilus, the whitest known beetle.

From Science Daily ● Jan. 3, 2024

Before their eyes the tiny, lowly hut which had been their home for so long was turned into a stately pillared temple of whitest marble with a golden roof.

From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton

We always feel when something's been whited out because someone didn't understand or translate the culture.

From Salon ● Apr. 3, 2022

Photos show the reference was first whited out, then a laminated description without the sentence was taped over the original placard.

From Seattle Times ● Feb. 26, 2020

Sometimes he whited them out completely with gouache.

From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2019

Everything is whited out at first, as if I’ve taken off my sunglasses on a glaringly bright day.

From Science Magazine ● Oct. 26, 2018

The billboards had been whited out with thin coats of paint in order to write on them and through the paint could be seen a pale palimpsest of advertisements for goods which no longer existed.

From "The Road" by Cormac McCarthy

The wild fish studied included Pacific and Peruvian anchoveta, and Atlantic herring, mackerel, sprat and blue whiting -- which are all marketed and consumed as seafood.

From Science Daily ● Mar. 20, 2024

Others, including flatfish and whiting, were shown to leave those areas.

From Seattle Times ● Sep. 11, 2023

The species that are most frequently parasitised include salmon, tuna, squid, cod, hake, mackerel, mackerel, horse mackerel, blue whiting, sardines and anchovies.

From Salon ● Apr. 18, 2023

They visited the Penguins' Rock enclosure - which is home to gentoo, rockhopper and king penguins - and fed the residents with blue whiting from a bucket.

From BBC ● Jun. 3, 2022

This woman’s got a plate of grits with fried whiting, biscuits in white gravy, three thick slices of beef bacon, and a side of candied yams with marshmallows and raisins.

From "Like Vanessa" by Tami Charles

Related Words

• alabaster
• milky
• porcelain
• snowy