WHITE

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IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does White mean? 

• WHITE (noun)
  The noun WHITE has 12 senses:

1. a Caucasian

2. the quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black)

3. 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)

4. Australian writer (1912-1990)

5. United States political journalist (1915-1986)

6. United States architect (1853-1906)

7. United States writer noted for his humorous essays (1899-1985)

8. United States educator who in 1865 (with Ezra Cornell) founded Cornell University and served as its first president (1832-1918)

9. a tributary of the Mississippi River that flows southeastward through northern Arkansas and southern Missouri

10. the white part of an egg; the nutritive and protective gelatinous substance surrounding the yolk consisting mainly of albumin dissolved in water

11. (board games) the lighter pieces

12. (usually in the plural) trousers made of flannel or gabardine or tweed or white cloth

  Familiarity information: WHITE used as a noun is familiar.

• WHITE (adjective)
  The adjective WHITE has 12 senses:

1. being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light

2. of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration

3. free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied

4. marked by the presence of snow

5. restricted to whites only

6. glowing white with heat

7. benevolent; without malicious intent

8. (of a surface) not written or printed on

9. (of coffee) having cream or milk added

10. (of hair) having lost its color

11. anemic looking from illness or emotion

12. of summer nights in northern latitudes where the sun barely sets

  Familiarity information: WHITE used as an adjective is familiar.

• WHITE (verb)
  The verb WHITE has 1 sense:

1. turn white

  Familiarity information: WHITE used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• WHITE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A Caucasian

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Caucasian; White; White person

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"):

Circassian (a member of the Sunni Muslim people living in northwestern Caucasia)

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)

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 2

Meaning:

The quality or state of the achromatic color of greatest lightness (bearing the least resemblance to black)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

white; whiteness

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"):

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)

alabaster (a very light white)

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 3

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)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Edward D. White; Edward Douglas White Jr.; Edward White; White

Instance hypernyms:

chief justice (the judge who presides over a supreme court)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Australian writer (1912-1990)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Patrick Victor Martindale White; Patrick White; White

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 5

Meaning:

United States political journalist (1915-1986)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

T. H. White; Theodore Harold White; White

Instance hypernyms:

journalist (a writer for newspapers and magazines)

Sense 6

Meaning:

United States architect (1853-1906)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Stanford White; White

Instance hypernyms:

architect; designer (someone who creates plans to be used in making something (such as buildings))

Sense 7

Meaning:

United States writer noted for his humorous essays (1899-1985)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

E. B. White; Elwyn Brooks White; White

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 8

Meaning:

United States educator who in 1865 (with Ezra Cornell) founded Cornell University and served as its first president (1832-1918)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Andrew D. White; Andrew Dickson White; White

Instance hypernyms:

educator; pedagog; pedagogue (someone who educates young people)

Sense 9

Meaning:

A tributary of the Mississippi River that flows southeastward through northern Arkansas and southern Missouri

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural objects (not man-made)

Synonyms:

White; White River

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 10

Meaning:

The white part of an egg; the nutritive and protective gelatinous substance surrounding the yolk consisting mainly of albumin dissolved in water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

albumen; egg white; ovalbumin; white

Context example:

she separated the whites from the yolks of several eggs

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 11

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 12

Meaning:

(usually in the plural) trousers made of flannel or gabardine or tweed or white cloth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

flannel; gabardine; tweed; white

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)

• WHITE (adjective)

Declension: comparative and superlative

Sense 1

Meaning:

Being of the achromatic color of maximum lightness; having little or no hue owing to reflection of almost all incident light

Context example:

a bride's white dress

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 2

Meaning:

Of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration

Context example:

voting patterns within the white population

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 3

Meaning:

Free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied

Context example:

in shining white armor

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)

Sense 4

Meaning:

Marked by the presence of snow

Synonyms:

snowy; white

Context example:

the white hills of a northern winter

Similar:

covered (overlaid or spread or topped with or enclosed within something; sometimes used as a combining form)

Sense 5

Meaning:

Restricted to whites only

Synonyms:

lily-white; white

Context example:

a lily-white movement which would expel Negroes from the organization

Similar:

segregated; unintegrated (separated or isolated from others or a main group)

Sense 6

Meaning:

Glowing white with heat

Synonyms:

white; white-hot

Context example:

a white-hot center of the fire

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 7

Meaning:

Benevolent; without malicious intent

Context example:

that's white of you

Similar:

good (morally admirable)

Sense 8

Meaning:

(of a surface) not written or printed on

Synonyms:

blank; clean; white

Context example:

wide white margins

Similar:

empty (holding or containing nothing)

Sense 9

Meaning:

(of coffee) having cream or milk added

Similar:

dilute; diluted (reduced in strength or concentration or quality or purity)

Sense 10

Meaning:

(of hair) having lost its color

Synonyms:

white; whitened

Context example:

the white hairs of old age

Similar:

colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)

Sense 11

Meaning:

Anemic looking from illness or emotion

Synonyms:

ashen; blanched; bloodless; livid; white

Context example:

a face white with rage

Similar:

colorless; colourless (weak in color; not colorful)

Sense 12

Meaning:

Of summer nights in northern latitudes where the sun barely sets

Context example:

white nights

Similar:

light (characterized by or emitting light)

• WHITE (verb)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Turn white

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

white; whiten

Context example:

This detergent will whiten your laundry

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 

Day came, and still the wind beat on our faces and the white seas roared past.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

How could he have the laugh on Bill if that were Bill; if those bones, so pinky-white and clean, were Bill?

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

They were white and strong and regular, he decided, as he looked at them.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

An abnormal type of white blood cell that is found in chronic myelomonocytic leukemia.

(Myelomonocyte, NCI Dictionary)

Cancer that arises in plasma cells, a type of white blood cell.

(Myeloma, NCI Dictionary)

The road by which Maple White had ascended was no longer available.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There he lies, white and cold in death.

(Frankenstein, by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley)

“Far better. Will you have white or red?”

(Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

If you look it up you will find that the San Pedro colours are green and white, same as in the note, Mr. Holmes.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The flowers are small and white.

(Morinda citrifolia, NCI Thesaurus)