gray
noun · adjective
Simple meaning
A neutral color between black and white.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
grayIPA pronunciation (US)
ˈɡɹeɪ
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.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
A neutral color between black and white.
An achromatic colour between black and white.
An animal or thing of grey colour, such as a horse, badger, or salmon.
United States botanist who specialized in North American flora and who was an early supporter of Darwin's theories of evolution (1810-1888)
A number of places in the United States
In the International System of Units, the derived unit of absorbed dose of radiation (radiation absorbed by a patient); one joule of energy absorbed per kilogram of the patient's mass.
adjective
Of a colour between black and white, having neutral hue and intermediate brightness.
Relating to older people.
Dreary, gloomy, cloudy.
Of indistinct, disputed or uncertain quality or acceptability.
Gray-haired.
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: a neutral color between black and white.
Used this way, gray 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 gray
- “The sky was a dull gray color before the rain started.”adjective
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More about this wordSynonyms, forms, origin
Synonyms
Sense: of a colour between black and white
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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.