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coloring

noun · adjective

Simple meaning

A digestible substance used to give color to food.

Pronunciation

Say it like this:

kuhlering

Say the bold part a little louder.

US device voice
IPA pronunciation (US)

ˈkʌlɚɪŋ

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. The act or process of changing the color of something

  2. An act or process which applies color.

  3. A digestible substance used to give color to food

  4. The appearance as to color.

  5. A disguise or discoloration.

adjective

  1. also figuratively

    That conveys or imparts color.

Word at a Glance

Difficulty
B2 · Upper Intermediate (estimated)
Frequency
Moderately Common
Typical Use
Neutral / general English

Word Aura™

How this word commonly comes across.

Aura for this meaning

This meaning: The act or process of changing the color of something

Used this way, coloring 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

Nearby words

  • colouring , used mainly in Regional English

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

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Common Patterns and Combinations

How this word naturally appears with others.

Digestible

food coloringcoloring material

Other combinations

coloring bookhair coloringgraph coloringcoloring matterred coloringgreen coloring

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Similar Words, What’s the Difference?

Close in meaning, but not always interchangeable.

  • color

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

  • colour

    Commonwealth and Ireland standard spelling of color.

  • colouring

    A digestible substance used to give color to food.

Word Family

Related forms, grouped by how they connect.

Inflected forms

Grammatical variations of the same word.

  • colornounBase word

    A visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect.

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.

  • coloring booknounCompound term

    A picture book with line drawings intended to be colored with crayons by children.

  • coloring materialnounCompound term

    Any material used for its color.

  • food coloringnounCompound term

    A digestible substance used to give color to food.

  • hair coloringnounCompound term

    A dye for coloring the hair.

Related Words

Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.

More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin

Synonyms

Sense: act

colouringRegional

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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.