/ English Dictionary |
WHITE
Pronunciation (US): | (GB): |
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
(usually in the plural) trousers made of flannel or gabardine or tweed or white cloth
Synonyms:
flannel; gabardine; tweed; white
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("white" is a kind of...):
pair of trousers; pant; trousers ((usually in the plural) a garment extending from the waist to the knee or ankle, covering each leg separately)
Domain usage:
plural; plural form (the form of a word that is used to denote more than one)
Sense 2
Meaning:
(board games) the lighter pieces
Classified under:
Nouns denoting man-made objects
Hypernyms ("white" is a kind of...):
man; piece (game equipment consisting of an object used in playing certain board games)
Domain category:
checkers; draughts (a checkerboard game for two players who each have 12 pieces; the object is to jump over and so capture the opponent's pieces)
chess; chess game (a board game for two players who move their 16 pieces according to specific rules; the object is to checkmate the opponent's king)
Antonym:
black ((board games) the darker pieces)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black)
Synonyms:
white; whiteness
Classified under:
Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects
Hypernyms ("white" is a kind of...):
achromatic color; achromatic colour (a color lacking hue; white or grey or black)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "white"):
alabaster (a very light white)
bleach (the whiteness that results from removing the color from something)
bone; ivory; off-white; pearl (a shade of white the color of bleached bones)
chalk (a pure flat white with little reflectance)
frostiness; hoariness (a silvery-white color)
Antonym:
black (the quality or state of the achromatic color of least lightness (bearing the least resemblance to white))
Derivation:
white (turn white)
white (being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light)
Sense 4
Meaning:
The white part of an egg; the nutritive and protective gelatinous substance surrounding the yolk consisting mainly of albumin dissolved in water
Example:
she separated the whites from the yolks of several eggs
Synonyms:
albumen; egg white; ovalbumin; white
Classified under:
Nouns denoting foods and drinks
Hypernyms ("white" is a kind of...):
fixings; ingredient (food that is a component of a mixture in cooking)
Holonyms ("white" is a part of...):
egg; eggs (oval reproductive body of a fowl (especially a hen) used as food)
Sense 5
Meaning:
A tributary of the Mississippi River that flows southeastward through northern Arkansas and southern Missouri
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)
Instance hypernyms:
river (a large natural stream of water (larger than a creek))
Holonyms ("White" is a part of...):
AR; Ark.; Arkansas; Land of Opportunity (a state in south central United States; one of the Confederate states during the American Civil War)
Missouri; MO; Mo.; Show Me State (a midwestern state in central United States; a border state during the American Civil War, Missouri was admitted to the Confederacy without actually seceding from the Union)
Sense 6
Meaning:
Synonyms:
Caucasian; White; White person
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("White" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "White"):
WASP; white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (a white person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry who belongs to a Protestant denomination)
honkey; honkie; honky; whitey ((slang) offensive names for a White man)
poor white trash; white trash ((slang) an offensive term for White people who are impoverished)
white woman (a woman who is White)
white man (a man who is White)
Elamite (a member of an ancient warlike people living in Elam east of Babylonia as early as 3000 BC)
Cassite; Kassite (a member of an ancient people who ruled Babylonia between 1600 and 1200 BC)
Semite (a member of a group of Semitic-speaking peoples of the Middle East and northern Africa)
Circassian (a member of the Sunni Muslim people living in northwestern Caucasia)
Aryan ((according to Nazi doctrine) a Caucasian person of Nordic descent (and not a Jew))
Derivation:
white (of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration)
Sense 7
Meaning:
United States educator who in 1865 (with Ezra Cornell) founded Cornell University and served as its first president (1832-1918)
Synonyms:
Andrew D. White; Andrew Dickson White; White
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
educator; pedagog; pedagogue (someone who educates young people)
Sense 8
Meaning:
United States writer noted for his humorous essays (1899-1985)
Synonyms:
E. B. White; Elwyn Brooks White; White
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))
Sense 9
Meaning:
United States architect (1853-1906)
Synonyms:
Stanford White; White
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
architect; designer (someone who creates plans to be used in making something (such as buildings))
Sense 10
Meaning:
United States political journalist (1915-1986)
Synonyms:
T. H. White; Theodore Harold White; White
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
journalist (a writer for newspapers and magazines)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Synonyms:
Patrick Victor Martindale White; Patrick White; White
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))
Sense 12
Meaning:
United States jurist appointed chief justice of the United States Supreme Court in 1910 by President Taft; noted for his work on antitrust legislation (1845-1921)
Synonyms:
Edward D. White; Edward Douglas White Jr.; Edward White; White
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Instance hypernyms:
chief justice (the judge who presides over a supreme court)
II. (adjective)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration
Example:
voting patterns within the white population
Classified under:
Similar:
Caucasian; Caucasoid (of or relating to Caucasian people)
Antonym:
black (of or belonging to a racial group especially of sub-Saharan African origin)
Derivation:
White (a Caucasian)
Sense 2
Meaning:
Of summer nights in northern latitudes where the sun barely sets
Example:
white nights
Classified under:
Similar:
light (characterized by or emitting light)
Sense 3
Meaning:
Being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light
Example:
a bride's white dress
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
albescent (becoming or shading into white)
Also:
light; light-colored ((used of color) having a relatively small amount of coloring agent)
Attribute:
value (relative darkness or lightness of a color)
Antonym:
black (being of the achromatic color of maximum darkness; having little or no hue owing to absorption of almost all incident light)
Derivation:
white; whiteness (the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black))
Sense 4
Meaning:
Anemic looking from illness or emotion
Example:
a face white with rage
Synonyms:
ashen; blanched; bloodless; livid; white
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)
Sense 5
Meaning:
(of hair) having lost its color
Example:
the white hairs of old age
Synonyms:
white; whitened
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)
Sense 6
Meaning:
(of coffee) having cream or milk added
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
dilute; diluted (reduced in strength or concentration or quality or purity)
Sense 7
Meaning:
(of a surface) not written or printed on
Example:
wide white margins
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
empty (holding or containing nothing)
Sense 8
Meaning:
Benevolent; without malicious intent
Example:
that's white of you
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
good (morally admirable)
Sense 9
Meaning:
Example:
a white-hot center of the fire
Synonyms:
white; white-hot
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
hot (used of physical heat; having a high or higher than desirable temperature or giving off heat or feeling or causing a sensation of heat or burning)
Sense 10
Meaning:
Example:
a lily-white movement which would expel Negroes from the organization
Synonyms:
lily-white; white
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
segregated; unintegrated (separated or isolated from others or a main group)
Sense 11
Meaning:
Marked by the presence of snow
Example:
the white hills of a northern winter
Synonyms:
snowy; white
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
covered (overlaid or spread or topped with or enclosed within something; sometimes used as a combining form)
Sense 12
Meaning:
Free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied
Example:
in shining white armor
Classified under:
Adjectives
Similar:
pure ((used of persons or behaviors) having no faults; sinless)
Derivation:
whiteness (the state of being unsullied by sin or moral wrong; lacking a knowledge of evil)
III. (verb)
Sense 1
Meaning:
Example:
This detergent will whiten your laundry
Synonyms:
white; whiten
Classified under:
Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.
Hypernyms (to "white" is one way to...):
color; colour; discolor; discolour (change color, often in an undesired manner)
Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "white"):
bleach (make whiter or lighter)
Sentence frames:
Something ----s
Somebody ----s something
Something ----s something
Derivation:
white (the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black))
Context examples:
Once, lying awake, he heard a strange sound in the white wall.
(White Fang, by Jack London)
Leukemia is cancer of the white blood cells.
(Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia, NIH: National Cancer Institute)
To the right of the dark feature are bright white "companion clouds."
(Hubble Reveals Dynamic Atmospheres of Uranus, Neptune, NASA)
His hair was quite white now, though his eyebrows were still black.
(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)
Plasma is the single largest component of blood and is the clear liquid that remains after the removal of red and white blood cells and platelets.
(Study highlights potential for ‘liquid health check’ to predict disease risk, University of Cambridge)
Researchers using ESO’s Very Large Telescope have, for the first time, found evidence of a giant planet associated with a white dwarf star.
(First Giant Planet around White Dwarf Found, ESO)
In one run they made a sixty-mile dash from the foot of Lake Le Barge to the White Horse Rapids.
(The Call of the Wild, by Jack London)
The next man he met was a countryman carrying a fine white goose.
(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)
Then, to their surprise, they found before them a high wall which seemed to be made of white china.
(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)
I told Mother black with a white handle, but she forgot and bought a green one with a yellowish handle.
(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)