Library / English Dictionary

COLOUR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

The appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation

Synonyms:

color; colour

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

appearance; visual aspect (outward or visible aspect of a person or thing)

Sense 2

Meaning:

An outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading

Example:

the situation soon took on a different color

Synonyms:

color; colour; gloss; semblance

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

appearance; visual aspect (outward or visible aspect of a person or thing)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "colour"):

color of law; colour of law (a mere semblance of legal right; something done with the apparent authority of law but actually in contravention of law)

simulacrum (an insubstantial or vague semblance)

face value (the apparent worth as opposed to the real worth)

guise; pretence; pretense; pretext (an artful or simulated semblance)

camouflage; disguise (an outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something)

verisimilitude (the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true)

Sense 3

Meaning:

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

Example:

a white color is made up of many different wavelengths of light

Synonyms:

color; coloring; colour; colouring

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

visual property (an attribute of vision)

Attribute:

uncolored; uncoloured (without color)

colored; colorful; coloured (having color or a certain color; sometimes used in combination)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "colour"):

dithered color; dithered colour; nonsolid color; nonsolid colour (a color produced by a pattern of differently colored dots that together simulate the desired color)

complexion; skin color; skin colour (the coloring of a person's face)

coloration; colouration (appearance with regard to color)

achromatic color; achromatic colour (a color lacking hue; white or grey or black)

chromatic color; chromatic colour; spectral color; spectral colour (a color that has hue)

shade; tincture; tint; tone (a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color)

mottle (an irregular arrangement of patches of color)

heather; heather mixture (interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color)

primary color; primary colour (any of three colors from which all others can be obtained by mixing)

Sense 4

Meaning:

The timbre of a musical sound

Example:

the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music

Synonyms:

color; coloration; colour; colouration

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

quality; timber; timbre; tone ((music) the distinctive property of a complex sound (a voice or noise or musical sound))

Sense 5

Meaning:

Interest and variety and intensity

Example:

the characters were delineated with exceptional vividness

Synonyms:

color; colour; vividness

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

interest; interestingness (the power of attracting or holding one's attention (because it is unusual or exciting etc.))

Attribute:

colorful; colourful (having much or varied color)

colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)

Sense 6

Meaning:

(physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction

Example:

each flavor of quarks comes in three colors

Synonyms:

color; colour

Classified under:

Nouns denoting cognitive processes and contents

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

form; kind; sort; variety (a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality)

Domain category:

high-energy physics; high energy physics; particle physics (the branch of physics that studies subatomic particles and their interactions)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Any material used for its color

Example:

she used a different color for the trim

Synonyms:

color; coloring material; colour; colouring material

Classified under:

Nouns denoting substances

Hypernyms ("colour" is a kind of...):

material; stuff (the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "colour"):

stain ((microscopy) a dye or other coloring material that is used in microscopy to make structures visible)

pigment (any substance whose presence in plant or animal tissues produces a characteristic color)

pigment (dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.))

hematochrome (a reddish coloring material found in some algae)

tincture (a substance that colors or dyes)

dye; dyestuff (a usually soluble substance for staining or coloring e.g. fabrics or hair)

mordant (a substance used to treat leather or other materials before dyeing; aids in dyeing process)

indicator ((chemistry) a substance that changes color to indicate the presence of some ion or substance; can be used to indicate the completion of a chemical reaction or (in medicine) to test for a particular reaction)

paint; pigment (a substance used as a coating to protect or decorate a surface (especially a mixture of pigment suspended in a liquid); dries to form a hard coating)

Derivation:

colour (change color, often in an undesired manner)

colour (decorate with colors)

colour (modify or bias)

 II. (adjective) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having or capable of producing colors

Example:

marvelous color illustrations

Synonyms:

color; colour

Classified under:

Adjectives

Domain category:

photography; picture taking (the act of taking and printing photographs)

 III. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Change color, often in an undesired manner

Example:

The shirts discolored

Synonyms:

color; colour; discolor; discolour

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "colour" is one way to...):

change (undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "colour"):

blue (turn blue)

green (turn or become green)

tone (change the color or tone of)

yellow (turn yellow)

gray; grey (turn grey)

purple (become purple)

redden (turn red or redder)

dye (color with dye)

silver (turn silver)

turn (change color)

black; blacken; melanise; melanize (make or become black)

white; whiten (turn white)

burn; sunburn (get a sunburn by overexposure to the sun)

bronze; tan (get a tan, from wind or sun)

blanch; blench; pale (turn pale, as if in fear)

blush; crimson; flush; redden (turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame)

Sentence frames:

Something ----s
Somebody ----s

Derivation:

colour (any material used for its color)

colouring (the act or process of changing the color of something)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Add color to

Example:

colorize black and white film

Synonyms:

color; color in; colorise; colorize; colour; colour in; colourise; colourize

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Hypernyms (to "colour" is one way to...):

alter; change; modify (cause to change; make different; cause a transformation)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "colour"):

handcolor; handcolour (color by hand)

tinct; tinge; tint; touch (color lightly)

pigment (color or dye with a pigment)

hue; imbue (suffuse with color)

retouch (give retouches to (hair))

silver (make silver in color)

gray; grey (make grey)

tone (change to a color image)

redden (make red)

blotch; mottle; streak (mark with spots or blotches of different color or shades of color as if stained)

brown; embrown (make brown in color)

incarnadine (make flesh-colored)

pinkify (make pink)

verdigris (color verdigris)

aurify (turn golden)

empurple; purple; purpurate (color purple)

azure (color azure)

polychrome; polychromise; polychromize (color with many colors; make polychrome)

motley; parti-color (make motley; color with different colors)

blackwash (color with blackwash)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

colouring (a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect)

colouring (a digestible substance used to give color to food)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Affect as in thought or feeling

Example:

The sadness tinged his life

Synonyms:

color; colour; distort; tinge

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "colour" is one way to...):

affect; bear on; bear upon; impact; touch; touch on (have an effect upon)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Sense 4

Meaning:

Give a deceptive explanation or excuse for

Example:

color a lie

Synonyms:

color; colour; gloss

Classified under:

Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing

Hypernyms (to "colour" is one way to...):

apologise; apologize; excuse; rationalise; rationalize (defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s something

Sense 5

Meaning:

Decorate with colors

Example:

color the walls with paint in warm tones

Synonyms:

color; colour; emblazon

Classified under:

Verbs of sewing, baking, painting, performing

Hypernyms (to "colour" is one way to...):

adorn; beautify; decorate; embellish; grace; ornament (make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "colour"):

miniate (paint with red lead or vermilion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something

Derivation:

colour (any material used for its color)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Modify or bias

Example:

His political ideas color his lectures

Synonyms:

color; colour

Classified under:

Verbs of political and social activities and events

Hypernyms (to "colour" is one way to...):

act upon; influence; work (have and exert influence or effect)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s something

Derivation:

colour (any material used for its color)

Credits

 Context examples: 

A thick fog rolled down between the lines of dun-coloured houses, and the opposing windows loomed like dark, shapeless blurs through the heavy yellow wreaths.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Its salts are used to give fireworks a brilliant red colour.

(First identification of a heavy element born from neutron star collision, ESO)

She wore an amber-coloured flower, too, in her hair: it contrasted well with the jetty mass of her curls.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

When exposed to heat or light, the particles stick together, changing the colour of the material.

(Colour-changing artificial ‘chameleon skin’ powered by nanomachines, University of Cambridge)

It has a dark red colour, similar to objects in the outer Solar System, and it is completely inert, without the faintest hint of dust around it.

(ESO Observations Show First Interstellar Asteroid is Like Nothing Seen Before, ESO)

The iron-rich mineral goethite transforms to hematite which is very common on Mars and gives the planet its red colour.

(Red Planet May Have Harbored Life in Past, The Titi Tudorancea Bulletin)

The Oteo team discovered a similar megamerger formed by ten dusty star-forming galaxies, nicknamed a “dusty red core” because of its very red colour.

(Ancient Galaxy Megamergers, ESO)

She had turned a dreadful colour, the more ghastly under the dark dust-streaks upon her face.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It would not be easy, indeed, to catch their expression, but their colour and shape, and the eyelashes, so remarkably fine, might be copied.

(Pride and Prejudice, by Jane Austen)

The golden colour and the dancing lights were gone.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)