Definition

1. Noun:

   • A visual attribute of things resulting from light: The property of an object that is perceived by the eye based on the light it reflects, emits, or transmits.
   • A particular hue or shade: A specific variety of this attribute, such as red, blue, or green.
   • The use of all colors, as opposed to black and white: The quality of having or producing various hues.
   • Vividness or interest: The quality of being lively, vivid, or interesting.
   • A person's skin tone, especially as an indicator of race: The pigmentation of a person's skin.
   • A pretext or outward appearance: An appearance or form that may be misleading.
   • (Physics) A property of quarks: A characteristic in quantum chromodynamics that determines their role in the strong interaction.

2. Verb:

   • To add color to something: To apply paint, dye, or another substance to change an object's hue.
   • To change color: To become a different color, often undesirably.
   • To influence or bias: To affect something, such as a judgment or opinion, with personal feelings or bias.
   • To give a deceptive appearance or excuse: To misrepresent or gloss over facts.

3. Adjective:

   • Having or capable of producing colors: Describing media or devices that reproduce various hues, as opposed to black and white.

Usage Examples

• Noun:

  • The color of the sky at sunset was breathtaking.
  • She prefers films in color over black and white.
  • The story was told with great color and detail.
  • He was discriminated against because of his color.
  • Her story had the color of truth, but it was a lie.

• Verb:

  • The children love to color pictures in their books.
  • The fabric will color if you wash it with hot water.
  • His personal experiences color his worldview.
  • He tried to color his failure with excuses.

• Adjective:

  • We bought a new color television.

Advanced Usage

• "to show one's true colors": to reveal one's real character or intentions, especially when these are unpleasant.

  • He seemed friendly at first, but he showed his true colors during the argument.

• "to lend/give color to something": to make something seem more true or likely.

  • The new evidence lends color to her version of events.

• "off-color": (adjective) slightly indecent or improper.

  • He told an off-color joke that made some guests uncomfortable.

Variants and Related Words

• Colorful (adj): full of colors; vivid and interesting.
  • The market was a colorful scene.
• Colorless (adj): lacking color; dull or uninteresting.
  • A colorless liquid; a colorless personality.
• Coloration (n): the arrangement or use of colors; coloring.
  • The bird's brilliant coloration.
• Colorize (v): to add color to a black-and-white film.
  • They colorized the classic movie.

Synonyms

• Noun: Hue, shade, tint, tone, pigment.
• Verb: Tint, dye, stain, influence, distort.

Related Phrasal Verbs

• Color in: to fill an area or shape with color.
  • She carefully colored in the outlines.
• Color up: (informal) to blush or become red in the face.
  • He colored up when she complimented him.

Related Idioms

• With flying colors: with great success.
  • She passed the exam with flying colors.
• A horse of a different color: a completely different matter or issue.
  • Moving is one thing, but moving abroad is a horse of a different color.

Adjective

1. having or capable of producing colors
   • color film
   • he rented a color television
   • marvelous color illustrations

Verb

1. change color, often in an undesired manner
   • The shirts discolored
2. give a deceptive explanation or excuse for
   • color a lie
3. decorate with colors
   • color the walls with paint in warm tones
4. modify or bias
   • His political ideas color his lectures
5. affect as in thought or feeling
   • My personal feelings color my judgment in this case
   • The sadness tinged his life
6. add color to
   • The child colored the drawings
   • Fall colored the trees
   • colorize black and white film

Noun

1. the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation
2. (physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction
   • each flavor of quarks comes in three colors
3. any material used for its color
   • she used a different color for the trim
4. an outward or token appearance or form that is deliberately misleading
   • he hoped his claims would have a semblance of authenticity
   • he tried to give his falsehood the gloss of moral sanction
   • the situation soon took on a different color
5. a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks)
6. the timbre of a musical sound
   • the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music
7. interest and variety and intensity
   • the Puritan Period was lacking in color
   • the characters were delineated with exceptional vividness
8. a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect
   • a white color is made up of many different wavelengths of light