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
1 American
[hwahyt, wahyt]
/ ʰwaɪt, waɪt /
adjective
-
whiter,
comparative
-
whitest
superlative
-
of the color of pure snow, of the margins of this page, etc.; reflecting nearly all the rays of sunlight or a similar light.
-
light or comparatively light in color.
-
(of human beings) belonging to a group marked by slight pigmentation of the skin, often of European descent.
-
for, limited to, or predominantly made up of white people.
a white neighborhood.
-
pallid or pale, as from fear or other strong emotion.
white with rage.
-
silvery, gray, or hoary.
white hair.
-
snowy.
a white Christmas.
-
lacking color; transparent.
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(politically) ultraconservative.
-
blank, as an unoccupied space in printed matter.
Fill in the white space below.
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Also called alwite. Armor. composed entirely of polished steel plates without fabric or other covering.
-
wearing white clothing.
a white monk.
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Older Use: Offensive. decent, honorable, or dependable.
That's mighty white of you.
-
auspicious or fortunate.
-
morally pure; innocent.
-
without malice; harmless.
white magic.
-
(of wines) light-colored or yellowish, as opposed to red.
-
refined or processed, as flour.
-
British. (of coffee) containing milk.
noun
-
whites
plural
-
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.
-
a hue completely desaturated by admixture with white, the highest value possible.
-
quality or state of being white.
-
lightness of skin pigment.
-
a person with light-colored skin, often of European descent.
-
a white material or substance.
-
the white part of something.
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Biology. a pellucid viscous fluid that surrounds the yolk of an egg; albumen.
-
the white part of the eyeball.
He has a speck in the white of his eye.
-
whites,
-
white or nearly white clothing, as in
-
top-grade white flour.
-
-
white wine.
Graves is a good white.
-
a type or breed that is white in color.
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Usually whites. a blank space in printing.
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White. a hog of any of several breeds having a white coat, as a Chester White.
-
Entomology. any of several white-winged butterflies of the family Pieridae, as the common cabbage butterflies.
-
white fabric.
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Archery.
-
the outermost ring of the butt.
-
an arrow that hits this portion of the butt.
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the central part of the butt or target, formerly painted white but now painted gold or yellow.
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Archaic. a target painted white.
-
-
Chess, Checkers. the men or pieces that are light-colored.
-
Often White a member of a royalist, conservative, or reactionary political party.
verb (used with object)
whited,
whiting
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Printing.
-
to make white by leaving blank spaces (often followed byout ).
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to whiten (areas of artwork) in retouching preparatory to photoengraving (often followed byout ).
-
-
Archaic. to make white; whiten.
verb phrase
idioms
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bleed white, to be or cause to be deprived of all one's resources.
Dishonesty is bleeding the union white.
-
in the white, in an unfinished state or condition, as furniture wood that has not been stained or varnished.
-
white around the gills. gill.
White
2
American
[hwahyt, wahyt]
/ ʰwaɪt, waɪt /
noun
-
Andrew Dickson, 1832–1918, U.S. diplomat and pioneer of land-grant education.
-
Byron R(aymond) Whizzer, 1917–2002, U.S. lawyer and jurist: associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court 1962–93.
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Edmund, born 1940, U.S. novelist.
-
Edward Douglass, 1845–1921, U.S. jurist: chief justice of the U.S. 1910–21.
-
Edward H(iggins), II 1930–67, U.S. astronaut: first American to walk in space 1965.
-
E(lwyn) B(rooks) 1899–1985, U.S. humorist and poet.
-
George Leonard, 1838–95, U.S. choral conductor.
-
Gilbert, 1720–93, English clergyman, naturalist, and writer.
-
Patrick (Victor Martindale) 1912–90, Australian writer, born in England: Nobel Prize 1973.
-
Stanford, 1853–1906, U.S. architect.
-
Stewart Edward, 1873–1946, U.S. novelist.
-
T(erence) H(anbury) 1896–1964, English novelist.
-
Theodore H., 1915–86, U.S. journalist and writer.
-
Walter Francis, 1893–1955, U.S. civil rights leader and writer: executive secretary of the NAACP 1931–55.
-
William A(lanson) 1870–1937, U.S. neurologist, psychiatrist, and writer.
-
William Allen, 1868–1944, U.S. journalist.
white
1
British
/ waɪt /
adjective
-
having no hue due to the reflection of all or almost all incident light Compare black
-
(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
-
comparatively white or whitish-grey in colour or having parts of this colour
white clover
-
(of an animal) having pale-coloured or white skin, fur, or feathers
-
bloodless or pale, as from pain, emotion, etc
-
(of hair, a beard, etc) silvery or grey, usually from age
-
benevolent or without malicious intent
white magic
-
colourless or transparent
white glass
-
capped with or accompanied by snow
a white Christmas
-
(sometimes capital) counterrevolutionary, very conservative, or royalist Compare Red
-
blank, as an unprinted area of a page
-
(of wine) made from pale grapes or from black grapes separated from their skins
-
-
(of coffee or tea) with milk or cream
-
(of bread) made with white flour
-
-
physics having or characterized by a continuous distribution of energy, wavelength, or frequency
white noise
-
informal honourable or generous
-
(of armour) made completely of iron or steel (esp in the phrase white harness )
-
rare morally unblemished
-
rare (of times, seasons, etc) auspicious; favourable
-
poetic having a fair complexion; blond
-
to deprive slowly of resources
-
-
extremely clean and white
-
informal very pure, honest, and moral
-
noun
-
a white colour
-
the condition or quality of being white; whiteness
-
the white or lightly coloured part or area of something
-
the viscous fluid that surrounds the yolk of a bird's egg, esp a hen's egg; albumen
-
anatomy the white part (sclera) of the eyeball
-
any of various butterflies of the family Pieridae See large white small white cabbage white
-
chess draughts
-
a white or light-coloured piece or square
-
(usually capital) the player playing with such pieces
-
-
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
-
an unprinted area of a page
-
archery
-
the outer ring of the target, having the lowest score
-
a shot or arrow hitting this ring
-
-
poetic fairness of complexion
-
(of wood or furniture) left unpainted or unvarnished
verb
-
(usually foll by out) to create or leave white spaces in (printed or other matter)
-
obsolete to make or become white
White
2
British
/ waɪt /
noun
-
Gilbert. 1720–93, English clergyman and naturalist, noted for his Natural History and Antiquities of Selborne (1789)
-
Jimmy. born 1962, English snooker player
-
Marco Pierre. born 1961, British chef and restaurateur
-
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
-
T ( erence ) H ( anbury ). 1906–64, British novelist: author of the Arthurian sequence The Once and Future King (1939–58)
-
Willard ( Wentworth ) (ˈwɪlɑːd). born 1946, British operatic bass, born in Jamaica
White
3
British
/ waɪt /
noun
adjective
white
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Adjectives
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."
Vocabulary lists containing white
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:
He’s made it inside just in time to escape the rain, droplets from the downpour still visible on his white T-shirt.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
A December day in Stalingrad in 1942: “The dark clouds shed their burden, then brightened and climbed higher into the sky. The fog froze, settling as a thick white powder on army telegraph cables.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
"The original intention was to paint it back white, and I was willing to do that straight after the Eisteddfod," he said.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Later that night, a white Cadillac carrying Davis, Anderson and others pulled up beside Shakur's car in Las Vegas.
From Barron's ● Aug. 10, 2026
My mind goes back to the story Wes told at the Black Alliance meeting about the little white girl and the little Black boy who got lost.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
The same statement had been used by the White House last month when questions about the aircraft's safety first surfaced.
From Barron's ● Aug. 11, 2026
Lin’s great uncle was imprisoned during the regime of Kuomintang repression known as the White Terror.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 10, 2026
“He definitely has the consistency side of things down pat,” fellow A’s infielder Tommy White told reporters.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 10, 2026
In the same statement, the prime minister described President Trump as "the greatest of our friends in the White House" but said that Israel knew "how to stand firm" against unacceptable ideas.
From BBC ● Aug. 10, 2026
Come harvest time, the entire community would gather together and work in one another’s fields—the White families as well as Colored families cooperating to ensure that everyone survived.
From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson
"I think it's really important, particularly the grey trousers, the dresses and the whites to be reused because they're all universal and any school can use them."
From BBC ● Aug. 7, 2026
“As a result of that, there were a lot of whites who didn’t like that—at all.”
From Slate ● Jul. 27, 2026
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 until the whites are set and the yolks are cooked to your liking.
From Salon ● Jul. 20, 2026
The shift in focus served to align the goals of the Civil Rights Movement with key political goals of poor and working-class whites, who were also demanding economic reforms.
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
A banner ad for a bottle of Tide’s laundry detergent most recently spotted by Yoder blasted out the message: “Boosted: Cleaner, whiter, brighter, fresher.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 23, 2026
It also concluded that headlamps were perceived as "too bright", and that "whiter" headlamps and those on larger vehicles were "generally perceived to be especially problematic for causing glare".
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
The Gran addressed the Uncle, whose face had gone whiter than the snow outside.
From "Witchlings" by Claribel A. Ortega
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
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
“We weren’t really trying to develop the world’s whitest paint,” Ruan said in an interview.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 16, 2023
But one day, she couldn’t stop staring, and soon, the girl, who was the whitest thing on the trolley, caught her.
From "Ophie's Ghosts" by Justina Ireland
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
Sunday morning, in a Vermont town, my last day in New England, I shaved, dressed in a suit, polished my shoes, whited my sepulcher, and looked for a church to attend.
From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck
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
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
On Tuesday, the city of Bordeaux announced that an art student with no racist motive was behind the whiting of the statue, whose head, arms and shawl were covered in plaster.
From Seattle Times ● Sep. 14, 2021
It burned with something else, whiting out the setting around them.
From "Aru Shah and the End of Time" by Roshani Chokshi
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.
