whiteness

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white

(wīt, hwīt)

1. The achromatic color of maximum lightness; the color of objects that reflect nearly all light of all visible wavelengths; the complement or antagonist of black, the other extreme of the neutral gray series. Although typically a response to maximum stimulation of the retina, the perception of white appears always to depend on contrast.

2. The white or nearly white part, as:

a. The albumen of an egg.

b. The white part of an eyeball.

c. A blank or unprinted area, as of an advertisement.

3. One that is white or nearly white, as:

a. whites Pieces of laundry having a white or nearly white color.

b. whites White pants or a white outfit of a special nature: tennis whites.

c. whites The white dress uniform of the US Navy or Coast Guard.

d. A white wine.

e. A white pigment.

f. A white breed, species, or variety of animal.

g. Any of various butterflies of the subfamily Pierinae, characteristically having chiefly white wings often with black markings.

h. also White A member of a racial group having light-colored skin, especially when of European origin and in some classifications also when of Middle Eastern or North African origin.

i. often whites Products of a white color, such as flour, salt, and sugar.

4. Games

a. The white or light-colored pieces, as in chess.

b. The player using these pieces.

a. The outermost ring of an archery target.

b. A hit in this ring.

6. whites Medicine Leukorrhea.

7. White A member of a conservative or counterrevolutionary faction, especially one opposing the Bolsheviks in the Russian civil war.

adj. whit·er, whit·est

1. Being of the color white; devoid of hue, as new snow.

2. Approaching the color white, as:

a. Weakly colored; almost colorless; pale: white wine.

b. Pale gray; silvery and lustrous: white hair.

c. Bloodless; blanched.

3. Light or whitish in color or having light or whitish parts. Used with animal and plant names.

4. also White Of or belonging to a racial group of people having light-colored skin, especially when of European origin, and in some classifications also when of Middle Eastern or North African origin: voting patterns within the white population.

5. Habited in white: white nuns.

6. Accompanied by or mantled with snow: a white Christmas.

a. Incandescent: white flames.

b. Intensely heated; impassioned: white with fury.

8. White Of or relating to a conservative or counterrevolutionary faction, especially one opposing the Bolsheviks in the Russian civil war.

9. With milk added. Used of tea or coffee.

10. Archaic Unsullied; pure.

tr.v. whit·ed, whit·ing, whites

Printing To cover or make illegible with white coloring. Often used with out.

[Middle English, from Old English hwīt; see kweit- in Indo-European roots.]

white′ness n.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

white•ness

(ˈʰwaɪt nɪs, ˈwaɪt-)

n.

1. the quality or state of being white.

2. paleness.

3. purity.

4. a white substance.

[before 1000]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Switch to new thesaurus

Noun	1.	whiteness - the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black) white achromatic color, achromatic colour - a color lacking hue; white or grey or black alabaster - a very light white bleach - the whiteness that results from removing the color from something; "a complete bleach usually requires several applications" off-white, pearl, ivory, bone - a shade of white the color of bleached bones chalk - a pure flat white with little reflectance hoariness, frostiness - a silvery-white color
	2.	whiteness - the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil sinlessness, innocence, pureness, purity condition, status - a state at a particular time; "a condition (or state) of disrepair"; "the current status of the arms negotiations" cleanness - without moral defects
	3.	whiteness - lightness or fairness of complexion; "only the whiteness of her cheeks gave any indication of the stress from which she was suffering" complexion, skin color, skin colour - the coloring of a person's face

Translations

بَياض

hvidhed

Weiße Weiß

blancura

blancheur

fehérség

hvítleiki, hvíta

biancore

hvithet

белизна

belosť

aklıkbeyazlık

白色

whiteness

[ˈwaɪtnɪs] N → blancura f

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

whiteness

[ˈ^hwaɪtnɪs] n → blancheur fwhite noise n → son m blanc

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

whiteness

n → Weiße f; (of skin) → Helligkeit f; (due to illness etc) → Blässe f; the dazzling whiteness of … → das strahlende Weiß des/der …

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

whiteness

[ˈwaɪtnɪs] n (gen) → bianco; (of skin) → candore m; (pallor) → biancore m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

white

(wait) adjective

1. of the colour of the paper on which these words are printed. The bride wore a white dress.

2. having light-coloured skin, through being of European etc descent. the first white man to explore Africa.

3. abnormally pale, because of fear, illness etc. He went white with shock.

4. with milk in it. A white coffee, please.

noun

1. the colour of the paper on which these words are printed. White and black are opposites.

2. a white-skinned person. racial trouble between blacks and whites.

3. (also ˈegg-white) the clear fluid in an egg, surrounding the yolk. This recipe tells you to separate the yolks from the whites.

4. (of an eye) the white part surrounding the pupil and iris. The whites of her eyes are bloodshot.

ˈwhiten verb

to make or become white or whiter. She used a little bleach to whiten the sheets.

ˈwhiteness noun

ˈwhitening noun

a substance used to make certain things (eg tennis shoes) white again.

ˈwhitish adjective

fairly white; close to white.

ˌwhite-ˈcollar adjective

(of workers, jobs etc) not manual; (working) in an office etc.

white elephant

a useless, unwanted possession.

white horse noun

(usually in plural) a wave that has a crest of white foam.

ˌwhite-ˈhot adjective

(of metals) so hot that they have turned white. a white-hot poker.

white lie

a not very serious lie. I'd rather tell my mother a white lie than tell her the truth and upset her.

ˈwhitewash noun

a mixture of usually lime and water, used for whitening walls.

verb

to cover with whitewash.

ˈwhitewashed adjective

white winewine

whiteness

n. blancura.

References in classic literature ?

It was the whiteness of the whale that above all things appalled me.

View in context

For instance, a certain point of grammatical knowledge is present in the mind, but is not predicable of any subject; or again, a certain whiteness may be present in the body (for colour requires a material basis), yet it is never predicable of anything.

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The whole sky, though lit by the sidereal rays, seemed black by contrast with the whiteness of the waters.

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The distant flat shrank in uniform whiteness and low-hanging uniformity of cloud.

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Nothing in the appearance of the islanders struck me more forcibly than the whiteness of their teeth.

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The whiteness of their teeth was still more dazzling than the splendour of jewels at their ears.

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SOCRATES: And if he similarly asked what colour is, and you answered whiteness, and the questioner rejoined, Would you say that whiteness is colour or a colour?

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He told him that he should try to do nothing to stain the whiteness of that apron, which symbolized strength and purity; then of the unexplained trowel, he told him to toil with it to cleanse his own heart from vice, and indulgently to smooth with it the heart of his neighbor.

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Here was whiteness which no lilies, ivory, nor alabaster could match.

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The weather had become worse than ever towards evening; the hail lashed the drenched mare so cruelly that she went along sideways, shaking her head and ears; but Levin was all right under his hood, and he looked cheerfully about him at the muddy streams running under the wheels, at the drops hanging on every bare twig, at the whiteness of the patch of unmelted hailstones on the planks of the bridge, at the thick layer of still juicy, fleshy leaves that lay heaped up about the stripped elm-tree.

View in context

I seem to remember gilded chairs and tables (arranged hurriedly by footmen in white gloves and stockings), linen of dazzling whiteness, glittering glass, silver dishes, a great bowl of fruit, and the reddest of roses.

View in context

How could I know it did trouble you, this question, when you never told me so, never spoke of it at all?" His clear, listening face, framed in its smooth whiteness, made him for the minute as appealing as some wistful patient in a children's hospital; and I would have given, as the resemblance came to me, all I possessed on earth really to be the nurse or the sister of charity who might have helped to cure him.