green

Less common meanings

12. 12
    inexperiencedadjectivefiguratively

    Lacking experience or training; new to a particular activity or role.

    The foreman paired the green apprentices with seasoned workers.

    Fresh out of school, she was green but eager to learn the trade.

    Similarinexperienced, raw, new, callow, fresh

    Oppositeexperienced, seasoned, veteran

    Note

    The inexperience of something unripe, carried over to people and even animals. Richard R. Rust's Renegade Champion (2008) has a green racehorse plunging over its jumps. Walter Scott's Peveril of the Peak (1823) sets green conceptions against grey hairs, pairing youth with age. Inexperience is not the same as foolishness. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • The inexperienced sense draws on an analogy with something unripe. en.wikipedia.org
    • Richard R. Rust wrote Renegade Champion, published in 2008. en.wiktionary.org
    • Rust describes jumping using the expression green racehorse. en.wiktionary.org
    • Walter Scott wrote Peveril of the Peak, which contrasts green conceptions with grey hairs. gutenberg.org
13. 13
    become that colorverbintransitive

    To become green, or to make something green or greener.

    Meadows green within days of the spring thaw.

    The landscape greens noticeably after a week of steady rain.

    Note

    It covers both becoming green and making green, and becoming green is the original meaning of the Old English verb grēnian. Poets favor its participle. Tennyson's "The Ancient Sage" (1885) has dust "greening in your leaf", and Whittier writes of a "greening slope" in "Flowers in Winter". Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

    • The Old English verb grēnian meant to become green. en.wiktionary.org
    • Tennyson's The Ancient Sage was first published in 1885. en.wikisource.org
    • The Ancient Sage describes dust as greening in a leaf, using the quoted wording. en.wikisource.org
    • John Greenleaf Whittier's Flowers in Winter contains the phrase greening slope. gutenberg.org
14. 14
    turn eco-friendlyverbtransitive

    To make something, or to become, more environmentally friendly or more concerned about the environment.

    The mayor pledged to green the city's energy supply within a decade.

    Engineers redesigned the plant to green its production process.

    UsageCommon combinations include greening the economy and green your business.

    Note

    Conrad Landin's 2023 "Network News" column quotes a call to "get serious about greening the economy". It differs from adding parks to a town, which brings in literal plants; this sense changes how something runs. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Conrad Landin published the cited Network News column in 2023. en.wiktionary.org
    • The column quotes a call containing the exact words get serious about greening the economy; the speaker was Gary Kelly. tssa.org.uk
15. 15
    nouncountable or uncountable

    A member of a green political party; a person who supports environmentalism.

    A Green on the city council argued for better public transit.

    Greens across the region formed an alliance ahead of the vote.

    Similarenvironmentalist, greenie, treehugger

    Note

    A political noun that writers sometimes capitalize, Green, as they would a party name. Lowercase, it stretches to anyone who backs environmental causes. Joe Smith's What Do Greens Believe? (2006) uses the plural for the movement as a whole. Its informal neighbors include tree hugger and the Australian greenie. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts

    • Joe Smith wrote What Do Greens Believe?. granta.com
    • The book was first published in 2006. granta.com
    • The book uses the plural greens for the broader environmental movement. en.wiktionary.org
16. 16
    enviousadjectivefiguratively

    Consumed by envy of what another person has or has achieved.

    When her sister landed the job she had wanted for years, she was green with envy, though she tried hard to hide it.

    He went green with envy as his rival lifted the trophy.

    UsageMost often in green with envy, after be, turn or go.

    Similarenvious

17. 17
    sick-lookingadjectivefiguratively

    Pale and unwell in appearance, as from nausea or sickness.

    After three hours at sea, the passengers all looked decidedly green.

    He went green the moment the plane hit heavy turbulence.

    UsageWith look, go or turn: looked green, went green in the turbulence.

    Similarqueasy, nauseous, pale, sickly, ill

    Note

    The pairing with pale is old; Shakespeare's Macbeth has "to look so green and pale". It describes people, so a sickly-looking plant is green only in the plain color sense. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • The historical pairing appears in Shakespeare’s Macbeth as quoted; Lady Macbeth speaks the words in Act 1, scene 7. folger.edu
18. 18
    leafy branchesnouncountable or uncountableplural

    Fresh leaves or branches of trees and plants, especially gathered for wreaths and decoration.

    Fresh greens and red ribbon covered the mantel in the front parlor.

    Every December the villagers cut greens in the forest to decorate the church.

    Similarfoliage, boughs

    Note

    Alexander Pope's The Temple of Fame (1715) has spring showers "call forth the Greens", where the word covers new growth rather than any one plant. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

    • Alexander Pope wrote The Temple of Fame, first published in 1715. speccollstories.ncl.ac.uk
    • The poem contains the quoted words; its seasonal description supports interpreting “Greens” as fresh growth generally. en.wiktionary.org
19. 19
    cashnounslangUSuncountable

    Money, particularly cash in the form of paper bills.

    They were short on green after the rent came due.

    He made serious green selling cars all summer.

    UsageNo a: some green, a lot of green.

    Similarcash, money, dough, bread

20. 20
    backstage roomnouncolloquialcountable or uncountableabbreviationellipsis

    Short for green room: the room in a theater or studio where performers wait and relax before, between or after appearances.

    Note

    Performers use this clipping of green room among themselves. Bruce Montague's The Book of Shakespearian Useless Information (2016) gives the offhand "See you on the green". Only the backstage room is shortened this way. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

    • Bruce Montague's The Book of Shakespearian Useless Information contains the quotation "See you on the green", presented as something actors say. en.wiktionary.org
21. 21
    wet woodadjective

    Of wood or lumber: freshly cut and not yet dried, so it still holds moisture and bends more readily.

    Green timber warps as it dries, so builders let it season before use.

    The carpenter rejected the planks because they were still green.

    Similarunseasoned, wet, fresh

    Oppositeseasoned, dry

    Note

    Timber cut recently enough to keep its moisture is green, and its opposite is seasoned wood, dried before use. Green wood bends and springs, but it warps as it dries, which is why builders wait. Zona Gale's When I Was a Little Girl (1913) recalls cordwood that "smelled sweet and green", the word stretching from condition to scent. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts

    • Green wood retains moisture; seasoned wood has been dried. en.wikipedia.org
    • Moist green wood is flexible and elastic. research.fs.usda.gov
    • Drying green wood can cause warping, so wood is seasoned to suitable dryness before use. research.fs.usda.gov
    • Zona Gale wrote When I Was a Little Girl, first published as a book in 1913. gutenberg.org
    • The book's narrator describes cordwood as having 'smelled sweet and green'. gutenberg.org
22. 22
    verbtransitive

    To add parks, gardens, and other green spaces to a town or city.

    Urban designers aim to green the city with rooftop gardens and pocket parks.

    The new policy will green neglected neighborhoods over the next five years.

23. 23
    freshadjectivefiguratively

    Full of life and vigor; fresh, new, and youthful.

    The memory of that summer remained green for decades.

    His passion for the work stayed green well into his nineties.

    Similarfresh, new, young, youthful

    Note

    Here the color stands for growth, so a green wound is fresh and a green manhood is young. Edmund Burke in 1790 contrasts an old government with "the greenest usurpation", meaning the most recent. In Hemingway's The Old Man and the Sea (1952), a fish brought in "too green" is still full of fight, landed before it had tired. Source

    Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 4 facts

    • Burke's quoted comparison appeared in Reflections on the Revolution in France, first published in 1790. archive.org
    • Burke contrasts an old government with 'the greenest usurpation'; the contrast supports the interpretation 'most recent'. en.wikisource.org
    • Ernest Hemingway wrote The Old Man and the Sea, first published in 1952. fadedpage.com
    • Santiago recalls bringing a fish in 'too green'; its violent resistance supports the interpretation that it had not yet tired. fadedpage.com
24. 24
    drug (slang)nounslanguncountable

    Marijuana, especially the dried, smokable leaves and flowers of the cannabis plant.

    She bought a bag of green from a friend at the party.

    He smoked some green before the concert and laughed through the whole show.

    Similarweed, pot, cannabis, dope, grass

    Note

    Goldie Lookin Chain's "Soap Bar" (2003) praises smoking it. Kanye West's "Drive Slow" (2005) puts a place name in front to boast that the best of it comes from California.

25. 25
    snooker ballnouncountable or uncountable

    In snooker, one of the colored balls, carrying a value of three points.

    Potting the green earned him three crucial points.

    He missed the green and left it hanging over the pocket.

26. 26
    bowls groundnouncountable or uncountable

    The playing area for a game of bowls, across which the bowls are rolled.

    Her first bowl curled gently across the green and stopped inches from the jack.

    The bowls club spent the winter re-turfing both of its greens.

    Note

    Bowlers know two kinds of surface under this word. A flat green is level and divided into strips called rinks, so several games run side by side; a crown green rises gently toward its center, so a bowl's path bends with the slope as well as with its own bias, and play may cross the whole surface. Source

    Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

    • A flat green is level. worldbowls.com
    • A flat green is divided into strips called rinks. worldbowls.com
    • Several games can take place alongside one another on a flat green. en.wikipedia.org
    • A crown green characteristically rises toward its centre. bcgba.org.uk
    • Both the slope and the bowl's bias affect its curved path. meersbrookparkbc.org.uk
    • Crown green play can extend across the whole green rather than being confined to rinks. en.wikipedia.org
27. 27
    adjective

    Of a cricket pitch: holding significant moisture, even when no grass is visible on the surface.
28. 28
    adjective

    Of academic publishing: made free to read by the author posting a version of the work, as in a repository, sometimes after an embargo.
29. 29
    adjective

    Relating to or associated with Islamism and Islamist political movements.
30. 30
    noun

    In particle physics, one of the three kinds of color charge that a quark can carry.
31. 31
    adjective

    Easily fooled, or not aware of things that most people already know.
32. 32
    adjectivedated

    Of bacon or other cured pork: left raw, without smoking or added spices.
33. 33
    adjectivedated

    Only partly roasted, so still half uncooked.

    We say the meat is green when half roasted.

    1725, Isaac Watts, Logick
34. 34
    adjective

    Of motion-picture film: newly developed, with its coating not yet fully hardened.
35. 35
    adjective

    Of wine: sharp-tasting because it has a high or excessive level of acid.
36. 36
    adjectivecolloquialPhilippines

    Sexually suggestive, crude, or vulgar in content.
37. 37
    adjective

    Of a quark: carrying the color charge named after this hue.
38. 38
    adjective

    Belonging to or concerning the special exchange rates once used to convert farm prices in the European Union.
39. 39
    adjective

    Of a part made by pressing metal powder: shaped but not yet heated, or sintered, to make it strong.
40. 40
    interjection

    Said to signal that one wants sexual activity to begin, or to go on after a pause.