When you are describing the colour of something, you don't normally use the word colour. Don't say, for example, 'He wore a green colour tie'. You say 'He wore a green tie'.
However, you sometimes use the word colour when you are asking about the colour of something, or when you are describing a colour in an indirect way.
Be Careful!
In sentences like these you use be, not 'have'. Don't say 'What colour has the bird?' or 'The paint has the colour of grass'.
You also use the word colour when you are using more unusual colour words. For example, you can say that something is a bluish-green colour.
You can also say, for example, that something is bluish-green in colour.
You can also add the suffix -coloured to the name of a colour.
The American spellings of 'colour' and '-coloured' are color and -colored.
| Imperative |
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| colour |
| colour |
| Noun | 1. | colour - any material used for its color; "she used a different color for the trim" 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; "artists use `paint' and `pigment' interchangeably" material, stuff - the tangible substance that goes into the makeup of a physical object; "coal is a hard black material"; "wheat is the stuff they use to make bread" 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 mordant - a substance used to treat leather or other materials before dyeing; aids in dyeing process tincture - a substances that colors metals hematochrome - a reddish coloring material found in some algae pigment - dry coloring material (especially a powder to be mixed with a liquid to produce paint, etc.) pigment - any substance whose presence in plant or animal tissues produces a characteristic color stain - (microscopy) a dye or other coloring material that is used in microscopy to make structures visible |
| 2. | colour - a race with skin pigmentation different from the white race (especially Blacks) person of color, person of colour - (formal) any non-European non-white person | |
| 3. | colour - (physics) the characteristic of quarks that determines their role in the strong interaction; "each flavor of quarks comes in three colors" kind, sort, form, variety - a category of things distinguished by some common characteristic or quality; "sculpture is a form of art"; "what kinds of desserts are there?" high energy physics, high-energy physics, particle physics - the branch of physics that studies subatomic particles and their interactions | |
| 4. | colour - interest and variety and intensity; "the Puritan Period was lacking in color"; "the characters were delineated with exceptional vividness"interestingness, interest - the power of attracting or holding one's attention (because it is unusual or exciting etc.); "they said nothing of great interest"; "primary colors can add interest to a room" | |
| 5. | colour - the timbre of a musical sound; "the recording fails to capture the true color of the original music" | |
| 6. | colour - 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"visual property - an attribute of vision primary color, primary colour - any of three colors from which all others can be obtained by mixing heather mixture, heather - interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color mottle - an irregular arrangement of patches of color; "it was not dull grey as distance had suggested, but a mottle of khaki and black and olive-green" tint, shade, tincture, tone - a quality of a given color that differs slightly from another color; "after several trials he mixed the shade of pink that she wanted" achromatic color, achromatic colour - a color lacking hue; white or grey or black coloration, colouration - appearance with regard to color; "her healthy coloration" dithered color, dithered colour, nonsolid color, nonsolid colour - a color produced by a pattern of differently colored dots that together simulate the desired color | |
| 7. | colour - 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" appearance, visual aspect - outward or visible aspect of a person or thing 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; "the plaintiff claimed that under color of law the officer had deprived him of his civil rights" simulacrum - an insubstantial or vague semblance face value - the apparent worth as opposed to the real worth guise, pretence, pretext, pretense - an artful or simulated semblance; "under the guise of friendship he betrayed them" camouflage, disguise - an outward semblance that misrepresents the true nature of something; "the theatrical notion of disguise is always associated with catastrophe in his stories" verisimilitude - the appearance of truth; the quality of seeming to be true | |
| 8. | colour - the appearance of objects (or light sources) described in terms of a person's perception of their hue and lightness (or brightness) and saturation appearance, visual aspect - outward or visible aspect of a person or thing | |
| Verb | 1. | colour - modify or bias; "His political ideas color his lectures" |
| 2. | colour - decorate with colors; "color the walls with paint in warm tones" adorn, decorate, grace, ornament, embellish, beautify - make more attractive by adding ornament, colour, etc.; "Decorate the room for the party"; "beautify yourself for the special day" miniate - paint with red lead or vermilion | |
| 3. | colour - give a deceptive explanation or excuse for; "color a lie" apologise, rationalize, apologize, rationalise, justify, excuse - defend, explain, clear away, or make excuses for by reasoning; "rationalize the child's seemingly crazy behavior"; "he rationalized his lack of success" | |
| 4. | colour - affect as in thought or feeling; "My personal feelings color my judgment in this case"; "The sadness tinged his life" | |
| 5. | colour - add color to; "The child colored the drawings"; "Fall colored the trees"; "colorize black and white film" alter, change, modify - cause to change; make different; cause a transformation; "The advent of the automobile may have altered the growth pattern of the city"; "The discussion has changed my thinking about the issue" blackwash - color with blackwash parti-color, motley - make motley; color with different colors azure - color azure; "Morning azured the village" aurify - turn golden verdigris - color verdigris pinkify - make pink incarnadine - make flesh-colored handcolor, handcolour - color by hand; "Some old photographs are handcolored" tinct, tint, tinge, touch - color lightly; "her greying hair was tinged blond"; "the leaves were tinged red in November" pigment - color or dye with a pigment; "pigment a photograph" retouch - give retouches to (hair); "retouch the roots" silver - make silver in color; "Her worries had silvered her hair" tone - change to a color image; "tone a photographic image" redden - make red; "The setting sun reddened the sky" | |
| 6. | colour - change color, often in an undesired manner; "The shirts discolored" blush, crimson, flush, redden - turn red, as if in embarrassment or shame; "The girl blushed when a young man whistled as she walked by" change - undergo a change; become different in essence; losing one's or its original nature; "She changed completely as she grew older"; "The weather changed last night" black, blacken, nigrify, melanise, melanize - make or become black; "The smoke blackened the ceiling"; "The ceiling blackened" turn - change color; "In Vermont, the leaves turn early" silver - turn silver; "The man's hair silvered very attractively" dye - color with dye; "Please dye these shoes" redden - turn red or redder; "The sky reddened" purple - become purple yellow - turn yellow; "The pages of the book began to yellow" tone - change the color or tone of; "tone a negative" green - turn or become green; "The trees are greening" blue - turn blue | |
| Adj. | 1. | colour - having or capable of producing colors; "color film"; "he rented a color television"; "marvelous color illustrations" photography, picture taking - the act of taking and printing photographs |