What does white mean?

Definitions for white
ʰwaɪt, waɪtwhite

This dictionary definitions page includes all the possible meanings, example usage and translations of the word white.

Princeton's WordNet

  1. White, White person, Caucasiannoun

    a member of the Caucasoid race

  2. white, whitenessnoun

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

  3. White, Edward White, Edward D. White, Edward Douglas White Jr.noun

    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. White, Patrick White, Patrick Victor Martindale Whitenoun

    Australian writer (1912-1990)

  5. White, T. H. White, Theodore Harold Whitenoun

    United States political journalist (1915-1986)

  6. White, Stanford Whitenoun

    United States architect (1853-1906)

  7. White, E. B. White, Elwyn Brooks Whitenoun

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

  8. White, Andrew D. White, Andrew Dickson Whitenoun

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

  9. White, White Rivernoun

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

  10. egg white, white, albumen, ovalbuminnoun

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

    "she separated the whites from the yolks of several eggs"

  11. whitenoun

    (board games) the lighter pieces

  12. flannel, gabardine, tweed, whiteadjective

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

  13. whiteadjective

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

    "as white as fresh snow"; "a bride's white dress"

  14. whiteadjective

    of or belonging to a racial group having light skin coloration

    "voting patterns within the white population"

  15. whiteadjective

    free from moral blemish or impurity; unsullied

    "in shining white armor"

  16. white, snowyadjective

    marked by the presence of snow

    "a white Christmas"; "the white hills of a northern winter"

  17. white, lily-whiteadjective

    restricted to whites only

    "under segregation there were even white restrooms and white drinking fountains"; "a lily-white movement which would expel Negroes from the organization"

  18. white, white-hotadjective

    glowing white with heat

    "white flames"; "a white-hot center of the fire"

  19. whiteadjective

    benevolent; without malicious intent

    "that's white of you"

  20. blank, clean, whiteadjective

    (of a surface) not written or printed on

    "blank pages"; "fill in the blank spaces"; "a clean page"; "wide white margins"

  21. whiteadjective

    (of coffee) having cream or milk added

  22. white, whitenedadjective

    (of hair) having lost its color

    "the white hairs of old age"

  23. ashen, blanched, bloodless, livid, whiteadjective

    anemic looking from illness or emotion

    "a face turned ashen"; "the invalid's blanched cheeks"; "tried to speak with bloodless lips"; "a face livid with shock"; "lips...livid with the hue of death"- Mary W. Shelley; "lips white with terror"; "a face white with rage"

  24. whiteverb

    of summer nights in northern latitudes where the sun barely sets

    "white nights"

  25. whiten, whiteverb

    turn white

    "This detergent will whiten your laundry"

Wiktionary

  1. whitenoun

    The color/colour of snow or milk; the colour of light containing equal amounts of all visible wavelengths.

  2. whitenoun

    A Caucasian person.

  3. whitenoun

    The albumen of bird eggs (egg white).

  4. whitenoun

    The sclera, white of the eye.

  5. whitenoun

    A common name for the Pieris genus of butterflies.

  6. whitenoun

    The cue ball in cue games.

  7. whitenoun

    White wine.

  8. whitenoun

    Street name for cocaine.

  9. whiteverb

    To make white; to whiten; to bleach.

  10. whiteadjective

    Bright and colourless; reflecting equal quantities of all frequencies of visible light.

  11. whiteadjective

    Of Caucasian race.

  12. whiteadjective

    Relatively light or pale in colour.

    white wine; white grapes

  13. whiteadjective

    Containing cream, milk or creamer.

  14. whiteadjective

    The standard denomination of the playing pieces of a board game deemed to belong to the white set, no matter what the actual colour.

    The white pieces in this set are in fact made of light green glass.

  15. whiteadjective

    Pertaining to an ecclesiastical order whose adherents dress in white habits; Cistercian.

  16. whiteadjective

    exhibiting traits popularly associated with Caucasian culture, especially European high culture, as opposed to African-American culture.

  17. whiteadjective

    Lacking coloration from ultraviolet light.

  18. Whitenoun

    A common surname.

  19. Etymology: whit, hwit, from hwit, from hwītaz, from ḱweytos 'to shine' (compare Lithuanian šviẽsti 'to gleam', свѣтъ 'light', свѣтьлъ 'clear, bright', 'white', श्वेत 'white, bright').

Samuel Johnson's Dictionary

  1. Whiteadjective

    Etymology: hwit , Saxon; wit, Dutch.

    When the paper was held nearer to any colour than to the rest, it appeared of that colour to which it approached nearest; but when it was equally, or almost equally distant from all the colours, so that it might be equally illuminated by them all, it appeared white. Isaac Newton, Opticks.

    Why round our coaches crowd the white-glov’d beaus? Alexander Pope.

    Ulysses cut a piece from the chine of the white-tooth’d boar, round which there was much fat. William Broome.

    My hand will
    That multitudinous sea incarnadine,
    Making the green one red. ————
    —— My hands are of your colour, but I shame
    To wear a heart so white. William Shakespeare, Macbeth.

    Welcome, pure-ey’d faith, white-handed hope;
    Thou hovering angel girt with golden wings,
    And thou unblemish’d form of chastity. John Milton.

    Wert thou that sweet-smiling youth?
    Or that crown’d matron, sage, white-robed truth? John Milton.

    Let this auspicious morning be exprest
    With a white stone, distinguish’d from the rest;
    White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear,
    And let new joys attend on thy new-added year. Dryden.

    To feastful mirth be this white hour assign’d,
    And sweet discourse, the banquet of the mind. Alexander Pope.

    Peace o’er the world her olive-wand extend,
    And white-rob’d innocence from heav’n descend. Alexander Pope.

    I call you servile ministers,
    That have with two pernicious daughters join’d,
    Your high-engender’d battles ’gainst a head
    So old and white as this. William Shakespeare, K. Lear.

    So minutes, hours, and days, weeks, months and years
    Past over, to the end they were created,
    Would bring white hairs unto a quiet grave. William Shakespeare.

    Unhappy John Dryden! in all Charles’s days,
    Roscommon only boasts unspotted lays:
    And in our own, excuse some courtly stains,
    No whiter page than Addison’s remains. Alexander Pope.

  2. Whitenoun

    A friend coming to visit me, I stopp’d him at the door, and before I told him what the colours were, or what I was doing, I asked him which of the two whites were the best, and wherein they differed? and after he had at that distance view’d them well, he answer’d, that they were both good whites, and that he could not say which was best, nor wherein their colours differ’d. Isaac Newton, Opticks.

    My Nan shall be the queen of all the fairies,
    Finely attired in a robe of white. William Shakespeare.

    If a mark be set up for an archer at a great distance, let him aim as exactly as he can, the least wind shall take his arrow, and divert it from the white. Dryden.

    Remove him then, and all your plots fly sure
    Point blank, and level to the very white
    Of your designs. Thomas Southerne.

    I’ll fetch some flax and whites of eggs
    T’ apply to’s bleeding face. William Shakespeare.

    The strongest repellents are the whites of new-laid eggs beaten to a froth, with alum. Richard Wiseman, Surgery.

    What principle manages the white and yolk of an egg into such a variety of textures, as is requisite to fashion a chick? Boyle.

    The two in most regions represent the yolk and the membrane that lies next above it; so the exterior region of the earth is as the shell of the egg, and the abyss under it as the white that lies under the shell. Thomas Burnet, Theory of the Earth.

    Our general himself
    Sanctifies himself with’s hands,
    And turns up the white o’ th’ eye to his discourse. William Shakespeare.

    The horny or pellucid coat of the eye, doth not lie in the same superficies with the white of the eye, but riseth up as a hillock, above its convexity. John Ray.

  3. To Whiteverb

    To make white; to dealbate.

    Etymology: from the adjective.

    His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them. Mar. ix. 3.

    Like unto whited sepulchres, which appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones. Matt. xxiii.

Wikipedia

  1. White

    White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of fresh snow, chalk and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White on television and computer screens is created by a mixture of red, blue and green light. In ancient Egypt and ancient Rome, priestesses wore white as a symbol of purity, and Romans wore a white toga as a symbol of citizenship. In the Middle Ages and Renaissance a white unicorn symbolized chastity, and a white lamb sacrifice and purity. It was the royal color of the kings of France, and of the monarchist movement that opposed the Bolsheviks during the Russian Civil War (1917–1922). Greek and Roman temples were faced with white marble, and beginning in the 18th century, with the advent of neoclassical architecture, white became the most common color of new churches, capitols and other government buildings, especially in the United States. It was also widely used in 20th century modern architecture as a symbol of modernity and simplicity. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, and exactitude. White is an important color for almost all world religions. The pope, the head of the Roman Catholic Church, has worn white since 1566, as a symbol of purity and sacrifice. In Islam, and in the Shinto religion of Japan, it is worn by pilgrims. In Western cultures and in Japan, white is the most common color for wedding dresses, symbolizing purity and virginity. In many Asian cultures, white is also the color of mourning.

ChatGPT

  1. white

    White is a color that is perceived as the absence of any hue. It reflects all visible light and is often associated with purity, innocence, and spiritual enlightenment. In a societal context, "white" also refers to people with light skin pigmentation whose ancestry is primarily European.

Webster Dictionary

  1. White

    reflecting to the eye all the rays of the spectrum combined; not tinted with any of the proper colors or their mixtures; having the color of pure snow; snowy; -- the opposite of black or dark; as, white paper; a white skin

  2. White

    destitute of color, as in the cheeks, or of the tinge of blood color; pale; pallid; as, white with fear

  3. White

    having the color of purity; free from spot or blemish, or from guilt or pollution; innocent; pure

  4. White

    gray, as from age; having silvery hair; hoary

  5. White

    characterized by freedom from that which disturbs, and the like; fortunate; happy; favorable

  6. White

    regarded with especial favor; favorite; darling

  7. Whitenoun

    the color of pure snow; one of the natural colors of bodies, yet not strictly a color, but a composition of all colors; the opposite of black; whiteness. See the Note under Color, n., 1

  8. Whitenoun

    something having the color of snow; something white, or nearly so; as, the white of the eye

  9. Whitenoun

    specifically, the central part of the butt in archery, which was formerly painted white; the center of a mark at which a missile is shot

  10. Whitenoun

    a person with a white skin; a member of the white, or Caucasian, races of men

  11. Whitenoun

    a white pigment; as, Venice white

  12. Whitenoun

    any one of numerous species of butterflies belonging to Pieris, and allied genera in which the color is usually white. See Cabbage butterfly, under Cabbage

  13. Whiteverb

    to make white; to whiten; to whitewash; to bleach

  14. Etymology: [OE. whit, AS. hwt; akin to OFries. and OS. hwt, D. wit, G. weiss, OHG. wz, hwz, Icel. hvtr, Sw. hvit, Dan. hvid, Goth. hweits, Lith. szveisti, to make bright, Russ. sviet' light, Skr. vta white, vit to be bright. 42. Cf. Wheat, Whitsunday.]

Wikidata

  1. White

    White is the color of fresh milk and snow. It is the color the human eye sees when it looks at light which contains all the wavelengths of the visible spectrum, at full brightness and without absorption. It does not have any hue. As a symbol, white is the opposite of black, and often represents light in contrast with darkness. According to surveys in Europe and the United States, white is the color most often associated with innocence, perfection, the good, honesty, cleanliness, the beginning, the new, neutrality, lightness, and exactitude.

Chambers 20th Century Dictionary

  1. White

    hwīt, adj. of the colour of pure snow: pale, pallid: colourless: pure: unblemished: purified from sin: bright: burnished without ornament: transparent and colourless, as of wine: pertaining to the Carmelite monks: gracious, favourable: (U.S.) reliable, honest.—n. the colour of snow: anything white, as a white man, the mark at which an arrow is shot, the albuminous part of an egg.—v.t. to make white.—ns. White′-alloy′, a cheap alloy used to imitate silver; White′-ant, a termite.—adj. White′-backed, having the back white or marked with white.—ns. White′bait, the name by which the fry of the herring and sprat are known in the market, and when served for the table, esp. in London; White′-bass, a silvery serranoid fish of the American Great Lake region.—adj. White′-beaked, having a white beak.—ns. White′-bear, the polar bear; White′-beard, an old man.-adjs. White′-beard′ed; White′-bell′ied; White′-billed.—ns. White′boy, a member of an association of Irish peasants first formed in County Tipperary about 1761—wearing white shirts—long noted for agrarian outrages; White′boyism, the principles of the Whiteboys; White′-brass, an alloy of copper and zinc.—adj. White′-breast′ed.—n.pl. White′caps (U.S.), the name given to a self-constituted committee of persons who generally commit outrageous acts under the guise of serving the community.—ns. White′chapel-cart, a light two-wheeled spring-cart much used by London butchers, grocers, &c.; White′-copp′er, a light-coloured alloy of copper.—adjs. White′-crest′ed, -crowned, having the crest or crown white—of birds.—n.pl. White′-crops, grain, as barley, rye, wheat.—ns. White′-damp, carbonic oxide, a poisonous but not inflammable gas found in coal-mines in the after-damp; White′-el′ephant (see Elephant).—adjs. White′-faced, having a face pale with fear or from illness: with white front, forehead—also White′-front′ed; White′-fā′voured, wearing white favours.—ns. White′-feath′er (see Feather); White′fish, a general name for such fish as the whiting, haddock, menhaden, &c.: the largest of all the Coregoni or American lake whitefish; White′friar, one of the Carmelite order of friars, so called from their white dress.—adj. White′-hand′ed, having white hands unstained with guilt.—ns. White′-hass (Scot.), an oatmeal and suet pudding; White′head, the blue-winged snow-goose: a breed of domestic pigeons, a white-tailed monk; White′-heat, the degree of heat at which bodies become white; White′-herr′ing, a fresh or uncured herring; White′-hon′eysuckle, the clammy azalea; White′-horse, the name applied to a figure of a horse on a hillside, formed by removing the turf so as to show the underlying chalk—the most famous in Berkshire, at Uffington, traditionally supposed to commemorate Alfred the Great's victory of Ashdown (871)—periodically 'scoured' or cleaned from turf, &c.—adj. White′-hot.—ns. White′-īron, pig-iron in which the carbon is almost entirely in chemical combination with the iron; White′-lā′dy, a spectral figure which appears in many of the castles of Germany, as at Ansbach, Baireuth, Altenburg, &c., by night as well as by day, particularly when the death of any member of the family is imminent; White′-land, land with a stiff clayey soil white when dry; White′lead, a carbonate of lead used in painting white; White′-leath′er (see Leather); White′-leg, an ailment of women after parturition—also Milk-leg; White′-lie (see Lie); White′-light, ordinary sunlight; White′-lime, whitewash.—adjs. White′-limed, whitewashed; White′-list′ed, having white lists or stripes on a darker ground; White′-liv′ered, having a pale look, so called because thought to be caused by a white liver: cowardly: malicious; White′ly (Shak.), coming near to white, white-faced.—ns. White′-meat, food made of milk, butter, eggs, &c.: the flesh of poultry, rabbits, veal, &c.; White′-met′al, a general name for alloys of light colour.—v.t. Whī′ten, to make white: to bleach.—v.i. to become or turn white.—ns. Whīt′ener; White′ness; White′-pot, a Devonshire dish of sliced rolls, milk, eggs, sugar, &c. baked; White′-precip′itate, a white mercurial preparation used externally; White′-pyrī′tes, marcasite; White′-rent, the tinner's poll-tax of eightpence to the Duke of Cornwall: rent paid in silver.—adj. White′-rumped.—ns. Whites (see Leucorrhœa); White′-salt, salt dried and calcined; White′smith, a worker in tinned or white iron: a tinsmith; White′-squall (see Squall); White′stone, granulite; White′-swell′ing, a disease of the joints, esp. the knee, in which the synovial membrane passes into pulpy degeneration; White′thorn, the common hawthorn; White′throat, a bird of the same genus as the Blackcap, having the breast and belly of a brownish-white; White′-vit′riol, sulphate of zinc; White′wash, slaked quicklime, reduced to the consistency of milk by means of water, used for colouring walls and as a disinfectant: a wash for the skin: false colouring.—v.t. to cover with whitewash: to give a fair appearance to.—ns. White′washer, one who whitewashes; White′-wa′ter, shoal water near the shore, breakers: the foaming water in rapids, &c.; White′-wax, bleached beeswax: Chinese wax, or pela; White′-wine, any wine of clear transparent colour, as hock, &c.; White′wing, the velvet scoter, scurf-duck: the chaffinch.—adj. White′-winged.—ns. White′wood, a name applied to a large number of trees or their timber—the American tulip-tree, white-wood cedar, cheesewood, &c.; Whī′ting, a small sea-fish allied to the cod, so called from its white colour: ground chalk free from stony matter and other impurities, extensively used as a size-colour, &c.—also White′ning, and Spanish white, Paris white (the finest); Whī′ting-time (Shak.), bleaching-time.—adj. Whī′tish, somewhat white.—ns. Whī′tishness; Whīt′ster (Shak.), a bleacher of cloth or clothes.—adjs. Whī′ty, whitish; Whī′ty-brown, white with a tinge of brown.—White-headed eagle, the North American bald eagle; White horse, a white-topped wave; White House, a popular name of the official residence of the President of the United States at Washington; White of an egg, the albumen, the pellucid viscous fluid surrounding the yolk; White of the eye, that part of the ball of the eye which surrounds the iris or coloured part.—China white, a very pure variety of whitelead—also Silver white and French white; Pearl white, the basic nitrate of bismuth used as a cosmetic; Zinc white, impure oxide of zinc.—Mark with a white stone (see Stone); Show the white feather (see Feather). [A.S. hwít; Ice. hvitr, Ger. weiss.]

Editors Contribution

  1. white

    A type of color.

    Milk is white in color and so is chalk, paper etc.


    Submitted by MaryC on February 3, 2020  


  2. whitenoun

    Pure linen of an image.

    Even though he is dark skinned, his spirit reflects a light orah that gravitate as white in pure justice.

    Etymology: Inner glow


    Submitted by Tony_Elyon on October 8, 2023  

Surnames Frequency by Census Records

  1. WHITE

    According to the U.S. Census Bureau, White is ranked #24 in terms of the most common surnames in America.

    The White surname appeared 660,491 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 224 would have the surname White.

    65.5% or 432,688 total occurrences were White.
    28.1% or 186,060 total occurrences were Black.
    2.3% or 15,720 total occurrences were of two or more races.
    2.3% or 15,720 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.
    1% or 7,067 total occurrences were American Indian or Alaskan Native.
    0.4% or 3,236 total occurrences were Asian.

British National Corpus

  1. Spoken Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'white' in Spoken Corpus Frequency: #441

  2. Written Corpus Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'white' in Written Corpus Frequency: #645

  3. Nouns Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'white' in Nouns Frequency: #1779

  4. Adjectives Frequency

    Rank popularity for the word 'white' in Adjectives Frequency: #48

How to pronounce white?

How to say white in sign language?

Numerology

  1. Chaldean Numerology

    The numerical value of white in Chaldean Numerology is: 3

  2. Pythagorean Numerology

    The numerical value of white in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2

Examples of white in a Sentence

  1. Burt Colucci:

    It’s always preferable that it is a white town.

  2. Hugh Dugan:

    In standing for another five years as WHO chief, Tedros was due a White House grilling over COVID-19. But Biden forgot to seize that opportunity for improved accountability and transparency concerning Wuhan, instead, he rubber-stamped Tedros like a mildly overdue library book.The status quo should have been a status no, and only the United States has the heft to call out China's guy.But Biden's team … continued to show little interest in creating leverage for needed change at WHO's helm.

  3. Congressional Budget Office:

    President Trump on Monday appeared to call for changes to the Republican tax plan even as he claimed it has ‘ great support. ’ President Donald Trump tweeted that President Donald Trump wants ‘ just a few changes ’ that would help ‘ the middle class and job producers, ’ as well as small businesses that are taxed through the code for individuals. ‘ The Tax Cut Bill is coming along very well, great support, ’ the president wrote. ‘ With just a few changes, some mathematical, the middle class and job producers can get even more in actual dollars and savings and the pass through provision becomes simpler and really works well ! ’ The specific changes President Donald Trump wants, however, are unclear. President Donald Trump tweeted just hours before President Donald Trump’s expected to meet at White House with top Republican tax writers in Republican Alabama Senate. GOP leaders are aiming to advance the tax bill in the upper chamber this week in a race to get a bill on Trump’s desk by year’s end.

  4. John Barrasso:

    I want to make Joe Biden a one-half-term president, and I want to do that by making sure they no longer have White House, Senate, White House.

  5. Chris Whipple:

    This White House is one of the most dysfunctional in modern history, and I think a lot of that is on Trump, but a good deal of it is also on the chief of staff and the senior staff.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

white#1#348#10000

Translations for white

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