NEUTRAL

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does neutral mean? 

• NEUTRAL (noun)
  The noun NEUTRAL has 1 sense:

1. one who does not side with any party in a war or dispute

  Familiarity information: NEUTRAL used as a noun is very rare.

• NEUTRAL (adjective)
  The adjective NEUTRAL has 7 senses:

1. having no personal preference

2. having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive

3. not supporting or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest

4. possessing no distinctive quality or characteristics

5. having no hue

6. lacking distinguishing quality or characteristics

7. having no net electric charge

  Familiarity information: NEUTRAL used as an adjective is common.

 Dictionary entry details 

• NEUTRAL (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

One who does not side with any party in a war or dispute

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)

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

fence-sitter (a person who won't take sides in a controversy)

stakeholder (someone entrusted to hold the stakes for two or more persons betting against one another; must deliver the stakes to the winner)

Derivation:

neutral (not supporting or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest)

• NEUTRAL (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having no personal preference

Synonyms:

impersonal; neutral

Context example:

a neutral observer

Similar:

nonsubjective; objective (undistorted by emotion or personal bias; based on observable phenomena)

Derivation:

neutrality (tolerance attributable to a lack of involvement)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Having only a limited ability to react chemically; chemically inactive

Synonyms:

indifferent; inert; neutral

Context example:

an indifferent chemical in a reaction

Similar:

unreactive ((chemistry) not reacting chemically)

Domain category:

chemical science; chemistry (the science of matter; the branch of the natural sciences dealing with the composition of substances and their properties and reactions)

Derivation:

neutrality (pH value of 7)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Not supporting or favoring either side in a war, dispute, or contest

Similar:

nonaligned (not affiliated with any faction, party, or cause)

Derivation:

neutral (one who does not side with any party in a war or dispute)

neutrality (nonparticipation in a dispute or war)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Possessing no distinctive quality or characteristics

Similar:

neutralised; neutralized (made neutral in some respect; deprived of distinctive characteristics)

viewless (not having or expressing opinions or views)

Antonym:

negative (characterized by or displaying negation or denial or opposition or resistance; having no positive features)

positive (characterized by or displaying affirmation or acceptance or certainty etc.)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Having no hue

Synonyms:

achromatic; neutral

Context example:

neutral colors like black or white

Similar:

iron-gray; iron-grey (of the grey color of iron)

lily-white (of a pure white color)

milk-white (of a white the color of fresh milk)

olive-gray; olive-grey (of grey tinged with olive)

dark-gray; dark-grey; oxford-gray; oxford-grey (of a dark shade of grey)

pearl gray; pearl grey (of a grey with a pearly tinge)

pearly; pearly-white (of a white the color of pearls)

pinkish-white (of white tinged with pink)

purple-black; purplish-black (of black tinged with purple)

purple-white; purplish-white (of white tinged with purple)

red-gray; red-grey; reddish-gray; reddish-grey (of grey tinged with red)

sable (of a dark somewhat brownish black)

silver-gray; silver-grey; silvery-gray; silvery-grey (of grey resembling silver)

silver-white; silvery-white (of a white that resembles silver)

slate-black (of a black tinged with slate-grey)

slate-gray; slate-grey; slatey; slaty; slaty-gray; slaty-grey; stone-gray; stone-grey (of the color of slate or granite)

snow-white; snowy (of the white color of snow)

soot-black; sooty-black (of the black color of soot)

violet-black (of black tinged with violet)

white-flowered ((of plants) having white flowers)

off-white; whitish (of something having a color tending toward white)

yellow-gray; yellow-grey; yellowish-gray; yellowish-grey (of grey tinged with yellow)

yellow-white; yellowish-white (of a white tinged with yellow)

hueless (of something totally lacking in saturation and therefore having no hue)

argent; silver; silverish; silvery (of lustrous grey; covered with or tinged with the color of silver)

ash-gray; ash-grey; ashy (of a light grey)

blackish (of something that is somewhat black)

black-gray; black-grey; blackish-gray; blackish-grey (of dark grey)

blue-white; bluish-white; cool-white (of white tinged with blue)

blue-gray; blue-grey; bluish-gray; bluish-grey (of grey tinged with blue)

blue-black; bluish black (of black tinged with blue)

brown-black; brownish-black (of black tinged with brown)

brown-gray; brown-grey; brownish-gray; brownish-grey (of grey tinged with brown)

canescent (of greyish white)

chalky (of something having the color of chalk)

coal-black; jet; jet-black; pitchy; sooty (of the blackest black; similar to the color of jet or coal)

ink-black; inky; inky-black (of the color of black ink)

green-white; greenish-white (of white flowers tinged with green)

greenish-gray; greenish-grey (of grey tinged with green)

gray-white; grayish-white; grey-white; greyish-white (of white tinged with grey)

gray-black; grayish-black; grey-black; greyish-black (of black tinged with grey)

gray; grayish; grey; greyish (of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black)

ebon; ebony (of a very dark black)

dull-white (of a dull shade of white)

cottony-white (of something as white as cotton)

charcoal; charcoal-gray; charcoal-grey (of a very dark grey)

Also:

colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)

Attribute:

chromaticity; hue (the quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Lacking distinguishing quality or characteristics

Context example:

a neutral personality that made no impression whatever

Similar:

colorless; colourless (lacking in variety and interest)

Sense 7

Meaning:

Having no net electric charge

Synonyms:

electroneutral; neutral

Similar:

uncharged (of a particle or body or system; having no charge)

 Context examples 

These alterations returned to near baseline during the following month of neutral temperature, and then were completely reversed during the final month of warm exposure.

(Cool temperature alters human fat and metabolism, NIH)

This agent induces transcription of genes coding for anti-inflammatory proteins, including lipocortin-1, interleukin-10, interleukin-1 receptor antagonist and neutral endopeptidase.

(Desonide, NCI Thesaurus)

Using this method, even a neutral compound can be administered.

(Electro-osmosis Route of Administration, NCI Thesaurus)

This species is nonmotile, non-spore forming, indole negative, reduces neutral red, but not nitrate, does not produce hydrogen sulfide, and does not hydrolyze hippurate, esculin, or starch.

(Eubacterium alactolyticum, NCI Thesaurus)

This species is nonmotile, non-spore forming, produces indole, hydrolyzes esculin and starch, reduces resazurin, but not neutral red or nitrate, produces hydrogen sulfate, ferments both melezitose and cellobiose, and is penicillin resistant.

(Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron, NCI Thesaurus)

This species is nonmotile, non-spore forming, indole negative, reduces neutral red, but not nitrate, does not produce hydrogen sulfide, and hydrolyzes esculin, but not starch or hippurate.

(Eubacterium contortum, NCI Thesaurus)

The energy released by these ancient galaxies caused the neutral hydrogen to get excited and ionize, or lose an electron.

(Most Distant Black Hole, NASA)

This species is nonmotile, non-sporeforming, hydrolyzes starch and esculin, resistant to penicillin, indole negative, and reduces resazurin, but not neutral red or nitrate.

(Bacteroides vulgatus, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes putative neutral ceramidase C protein, may play a role in sphingolipid metabolism.

(ASAH2C wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)

This allele, which encodes neutral ceramidase protein, plays a role in sphingolipid metabolism.

(ASAH2 wt Allele, NCI Thesaurus)