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color

noun · adjective · verb

Simple meaning

The spectral composition of visible light.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhler

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US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkʌlɚ

This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.

IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.

Word Review

Definition

Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.

noun

  1. uncountable

    The spectral composition of visible light.

  2. uncountable

    Hue as opposed to achromatic colors (black, white and grays).

  3. These hues as used in color television or films, color photographs, etc (as opposed to the shades of grey used in black-and-white television).

  4. countable

    A particular set of visible spectral compositions, perceived or named as a class.

  5. uncountable

    Human skin tone, especially as an indicator of race or ethnicity.

  6. A flushed appearance of blood in the face; redness of complexion.

adjective

  1. Conveying color, as opposed to shades of gray.

verb

  1. transitive

    To cause (a pipe, especially a meerschaum) to take on a brown or black color, by smoking.

  2. intransitive

    To apply colors to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using colored markers or crayons.

  3. of a person or their face

    To become red through increased blood flow.

  4. To affect without completely changing.

  5. informal

    To attribute a quality to; to portray (as).

  6. transitive

    To give something color.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
A1 · Beginner
Frequency
Very Common
Typical Use
Everyday English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The spectral composition of visible light.

Used this way, color is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.

Emotional tone
Neutral
Formality
Neutral
Intensity
Not strongly marked
How common
Moderately common
Connotation
Matter-of-fact
Usage feel
Neutral and straightforward

Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.

More ways to use color

  • “She used a different color for the trim.”noun
  • “The Puritan Period was lacking in color.”noun
  • “The recording fails to capture the true color of the original music.”noun

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Hue / hues

blue coloryellow color

Human

skin color

Other combinations

color schemecolor visioncolor linered colordifferent color

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Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • colorsnounPlural form

    A flag that shows its nationality.

  • coloredadjectiveInflected form

    Having color or a certain color.

  • coloringnounInflected form

    A digestible substance used to give color to food.

Word family

Words built from the same root.

  • colorationnounDerived noun

    The timbre of a musical sound.

  • colorfuladjectiveDerived adjective

    Having much or varied color.

  • colorlessadjectiveDerived adjective

    Lacking in variety and interest.

Compound terms

Established multiword terms.

  • color propertynounCompound term

    An attribute of color.

  • color schemenounCompound term

    A planned combination of colors.

  • color sergeantnounCompound term

    A sergeant in a color guard who carries one of the colors.

  • color spectrumnounCompound term

    The distribution of colors produced when light is dispersed by a prism.

  • color televisionnounCompound term

    A television that transmits images in color.

  • color television systemnounCompound term

    A television that transmits images in color.

Related words

Connected by subject or meaning, not by word formation.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: conveying color or as opposed to shades of gray

colour

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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.