yellow
Americannoun
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yellows
plural
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a color like that of egg yolk, ripe lemons, etc.; the primary color between green and orange in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 570 and 590 nanometers.
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the yolk of an egg.
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a yellow pigment or dye.
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Informal. yellow light.
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Slang. yellow jacket.
adjective
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of the color yellow.
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Disparaging and Offensive.
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designating or pertaining to an Asian person or Asian peoples.
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designating or pertaining to a person of mixed racial origin, especially of black and white heritage.
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having a sallow or yellowish complexion.
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Informal. cowardly.
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(of a newspaper, book, etc.) featuring articles, pictures, or other content that is sensational, especially morbidly or offensively so.
yellow rags;
yellow biographies.
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dishonest in editorial comment and the presentation of news, especially in sacrificing truth for sensationalism, as in
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jealous; envious.
verb (used with or without object)
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yellows,
present (3rd person singular)
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yellowed,
past participle, past
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yellowing
present participle
noun
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any of a group of colours that vary in saturation but have the same hue. They lie in the approximate wavelength range 585–575 nanometres. Yellow is the complementary colour of blue and with cyan and magenta forms a set of primary colours
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a pigment or dye of or producing these colours
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yellow cloth or clothing
dressed in yellow
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the yolk of an egg
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a yellow ball in snooker, etc
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any of a group of pieridine butterflies the males of which have yellow or yellowish wings, esp the clouded yellows ( Colias spp.) and the brimstone
adjective
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of the colour yellow
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yellowish in colour or having parts or marks that are yellowish
yellow jasmine
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having a yellowish skin; Mongoloid
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informal cowardly or afraid
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offensively sensational, as a cheap newspaper (esp in the phrase yellow press )
verb
Sensitive Note
It is perceived as insulting to use yellow to describe a person of Asian or mixed racial origin, as in the terms yellow peril and high yellow.
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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yellowsimple
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yellowssimple
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have yellowedperfect
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has yellowedperfect
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am yellowingprogressive
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are yellowingprogressive
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is yellowingprogressive
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have been yellowingperfect progressive
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has been yellowingperfect progressive
Past
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yellowedsimple
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had yellowedperfect
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was yellowingprogressive
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were yellowingprogressive
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had been yellowingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of yellow
First recorded before 900; 1895–1900 yellow for def. 9; Middle English yelou (adjective and noun), Old English geolo, geolu (adjective); cognate with Dutch geel, German gelb, Old Norse gulr; akin to Latin helvus “pale yellow,” Persian zar “gold” ( see jargon 2 ( def. )), Sanskrit hári “brown, green, yellow”
Explanation
Yellow is the color you'll see in a rainbow, right between orange and green. Yellow is the color of daffodils, lemons, and the traffic light that is supposed to make cars slow down. The word yellow comes from a Proto-Indo-European root word that means "to shine." Sunflowers, egg yolks, and corn on the cob all share this bright color, and if you're asked to draw a picture of the sun, you're likely to grab a yellow crayon. The informal meaning of yellow, "cowardly," has been around since the 1850s, and may have originated in a Texas slur for Mexican soldiers, whose uniforms were yellow.
Vocabulary lists containing yellow
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:
Same cheery font, same yellow bus blasting through the cosmos, same depiction of wacky teacher Ms. Frizzle and her cute chameleon sidekick Liz.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 29, 2026
Among her works was a room painted yellow and covered in black dots; she wore an outfit to match.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 27, 2026
The bird, which feeds on vegetation and insects, has long, bright yellow legs and toes that it uses to gracefully make its way through the wetland.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 27, 2026
Curcumin, the natural compound responsible for turmeric's vivid yellow color, is widely studied for its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 26, 2026
She’d already removed the mask and untied the yellow beak that she’d made with paint and scrap pieces lying about.
From "The Very, Very Far North" by Dan Bar-el
The outside world recedes, and the colors of the house’s interior slowly deepen from cheerful yellows and blues to muted greens.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 13, 2026
Does the number of yellows match the number of fouls?
From BBC ● Jul. 8, 2026
The yellows are like the palo verde trees that bloom brightly in the streets.
From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 13, 2026
According to Uefa rules, any player sent off by the referee - whether that is via two yellows or a straight red - is automatically suspended for the next match in European club competition.
From BBC ● Feb. 25, 2026
My white T-shirt glowed in the twilight, banded in modern art speckles of fungal reds, yellows, and blues.
From "Endangered" by Eliot Schrefer
Removing the bluer light from the sun should make it look a bit yellower.
From Scientific American ● Sep. 1, 2023
Light bulbs with warmer or yellower tones are more suited to our circadian rhythm than bluer light — that’s why the “night” mode on your smartphone uses them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 20, 2022
It had red writing spelling out the brand name Velveeta, the cheese substance that, depending on your color sense, is either bold gold or yellower than school bus yellow.
From New York Times ● Feb. 9, 2022
In its crystalline form, sodium nitrite looks like a yellower cousin of table salt.
From Salon ● May 23, 2021
Her small toad-like face looked even yellower than the day before.
From "Murder on the Orient Express" by Agatha Christie
Mallory Ortberg: “Jeeves, bring me my whangee, my yellowest shoes, and the old green Homburg. I’m going into the Park to do pastoral dances.”
From Slate ● Feb. 22, 2017
Fishkill Farms has the best eggs with the yellowest yolks.
From New York Times ● Nov. 17, 2016
A Hogarthian cast of characters, from Britain's lordliest media barons to subalterns on the yellowest of yellow rags.
From The Guardian ● Nov. 29, 2012
Not even the yellowest journals suggested that Banker Morgan was selling his pictures because he needed the money.
From Time Magazine Archive
“Mother,” suddenly said Helena, the younger girl, “while you were out this morning I met a blind girl with the longest and yellowest hair I have ever seen.”
From A Vendetta of the Desert by W. C. (William Charles) Scully
Ms. Brown keeps yellowed documents from the farm’s early days, including the 1741 deed to the property from Lord Thomas Fairfax, who owned millions of acres in Virginia.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 2, 2026
They simply weren’t my taste anymore, and I didn’t like how the resin had yellowed over time.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 16, 2026
One of the most intimate items in the collection is Monroe's 1950s brassiere that the auction company said had "yellowed due to age" and was inherited by Monroe's acting coach Paula Strasberg.
From BBC ● Jun. 4, 2026
Fruit stored at 30°C yellowed rapidly, while mangoes kept at 12°C maintained their color longer because chlorophyll breakdown slowed significantly.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2026
Liyana and Rafik lettered poster-board signs for the Estate Sale while their mother gathered stacks of yellowed newspapers from the corners, throwing them into recycling bins.
From "Habibi" by Naomi Shihab Nye
By the time a patient experiences signs, such as jaundice – a yellowing of the skin – or abdominal pain, the cancer has often already spread to other organs.
From Science Daily ● Jun. 4, 2026
On the yellowing front page, 20 or so young Greenlanders smile, feet planted in the snow.
From Barron's ● Mar. 3, 2026
It’s the moment of yellowing when lead starts becoming gold but isn’t gold yet.
From MarketWatch ● Jan. 28, 2026
The rest of the yellowing is a sign not of bad hygiene but of natural teeth “within a range of normal for that age,” Taylor said.
From Slate ● Jul. 15, 2025
As she walked about the yellowing hillsides or worked at easy tasks, her lips were curled in a perpetual fatuous smile.
From "The Red Pony" by John Steinbeck
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.
