white

WYT/waɪt/

Noun pluralwhites

34 meanings of white

Practice

1
describing coloradjective
Having the color of snow or milk, or very close to it.
Like the color of fresh snow or a glass of milk.
The fresh snow looked bright white in the morning sun.
He drew the clouds with white chalk on the board.
Similarsnowy, milky
Oppositeblack
2
adjective
Pale in color compared with other things of the same kind.
Chicken breast is a kind of white meat.
We drank a glass of white wine with dinner.
UsageSay white wine and white meat.
Similarpale, light, fair
Oppositedark
Note
3
adjective
Relating to people with light skin, mostly from families that came from Europe.
Most of the students in that old photo were white.
The town was made up mainly of white families back then.
SimilarCaucasian
Note
4
nouncountable or uncountable
The color of snow or milk, or paint of that color.
Like the color you see in fresh snow.
White is her favorite color for the walls.
She painted the old fence a bright white.
UsageSay dressed in white, with no a.
Oppositeblack
Note
5
nouncountable or uncountable
A person whose family came from Europe and who has light skin.
He was the only white at the gathering that evening.
In the crowd, a few whites stood near the front.
UsageWhite people is the more neutral way to say it.
SimilarCaucasian
Note
6
egg partnouncountable or uncountable
The clear part of an egg that turns white when it is cooked.
Beat the white until it forms soft peaks.
She carefully separated the white from the yolk.
UsageSay egg white.
7
nouncountable or uncountable
Wine that is pale yellow or clear, not red.
She ordered a glass of white with her fish.
We brought a bottle of white to the dinner.
UsageSay a glass of white.
Oppositered
Note
8
nouncountable
Any object or material that has a white color.
I liked the red car, but my dad picked the white.
The kids sorted the buttons and put all the whites in one cup.
UsageWash the whites apart from the darks.
Oppositeblack
Note
9
blankadjective
Empty of any letters or marks, like a blank part of a page.
Like the empty parts of a page where nothing is printed.
Leave some white space between paragraphs so the page is easy to read.
The poster has lots of white space around the picture.
UsageSay white space.
Note

Less common meanings

10
pale with fearadjective
Looking pale in the face because of fear or sickness.
Like how someone's face loses color when they get a sudden scare.
She went white when she heard the bad news.
His face was white with fear during the storm.
UsageSay she went white or turned white.
Similarpale, pallid, ashen, wan
Oppositeflushed, ruddy
Note
11
eye partnouncountable or uncountable
The pale part surrounding the colored center of the eye.
The whites of his eyes were red from tiredness.
You could clearly see the white around her iris.
UsageSay the whites of his eyes.
Note
12
snowyadjective
Covered with snow, like a winter landscape.
We hope for a white Christmas this year.
The hills were white after the heavy storm.
UsageSay a white Christmas.
Similarsnowy
Oppositegreen
Note
13
player (chess)nouncountable or uncountable
The player who is using the set of game pieces named as white.
White opened by pushing the king's pawn two squares.
After a long fight, White finally forced checkmate.
UsageSay White wins, with no the.
OppositeBlack
Note
14
pieces (chess)adjective
Belonging to the side in a board game that is named as the lighter one, even when the pieces look different.
Like teams called 'the Reds' even when their shirts are not really red.
The white pieces always make the first move in chess.
He captured the white bishop with a single pawn.
Oppositeblack
Note
15
beannouncountable or uncountable
A pale bean of a kind used in soups and stews.
Nearly two-thirds of the Idaho crop has been great northerns, one-sixth small reds, and the remainder small flat whites and pintos and seed for snap beans and baby limas (table 21).
1952, Columbia River and Tributaries, Northwestern United States
Note
16
against revolutionadjective
Belonging to political groups that oppose revolution and support the existing order.
The white armies fought to restore the monarchy after the revolution.
Many officers joined the white cause against the new revolutionary government.
UsageIt is the opposite of red.
Similarcounterrevolutionary, royalist
Oppositered
Note
17
make paleverbarchaictransitive
To make something white or take the color out of it.
so as no fuller on earth can white them
1611, The Holy Bible, King James VersionHere, white means to make white or clean.
In a very few hours I arrived in a city that always makes me think of a whited sepulchre.
1899, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”Here, whited means made white, painted white.
Similarwhiten, bleach, whitewash
Oppositeblacken, darken
Note
18
segregatedadjectivehistorical
Kept for use only by white people during times of legal segregation.
The bus had a white section at the front that Black passengers could not enter.
Signs marked the drinking fountains as white only.
Note
19
breadnoununcountable
Bread made from pale, refined flour rather than whole grain.
He likes his sandwiches on white.
We ran out of white, so I used the brown loaf.
UsageSay a sandwich on white.
Oppositebrown
20
milk addedadjective
Made with milk or cream added, like coffee or tea.
He drinks his coffee white with a little sugar.
Do you take your tea white or black?
UsageSay you take your tea white for tea with milk. Without milk, it is black.
Oppositeblack
21
nouncountable or uncountable
Coffee with milk or cream added.
She asked for a white with two sugars.
At the coffee shop, Dad asked for a white with no sugar.
UsageSay a white, please.
Oppositeblack
22
cocainenounslangcountable or uncountable
Cocaine, an illegal white powder, in slang use.
Dealers were selling white on the corner all weekend.
He'd spent his last twenty on white.
Similarcoke, blow, snow, powder, charlie
Note
23
cue ballnouncountable or uncountable
In pool or snooker, the ball you hit with the stick so that it knocks into other balls.
Like the one special ball you always hit with the stick to move the others.
She struck the white cleanly and sank two reds.
The white rolled into the corner pocket, costing him the frame.
UsageSay the white.
Note
24
adjectiveoffensiverare
Treating other people in a fair, good, and kind way, and being generous to them.
White as thy fame, and as thy honour clear.
1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John DrydenHere, White means honorable and pure.
"I meant to act white by you," he answered.
1913, Edith Wharton, The Custom of the CountryHere, white means fairly and decently.
UsageSay fair, kind or generous instead.
Similardecent, honorable, fair
Note
25
adjective
Drawn as an outline only, not filled in with color.
26
adjective
Of monks or nuns who wear white clothes.
27
adjectivearchaic
Lucky and good.
On the whole, however, the dominie reckoned this as one of the white days of his life.
1815, [Walter Scott], Guy Mannering
28
adjectiveobsolete
Loved more than others.
I am his white boy, and will not be gulled.
c. 1626, John Ford, Tis Pity She's a Whore
29
adjective
Of armor, made of bright, uncovered steel.
30
noun
A kind of white or pale butterfly.
31
noun
In golf on snow, the icy area around the hole.
32
noun
The middle of a target.
33
noun
The space inside a letter like o.
34
noun
A very pale ostrich feather.

More uses

whiteswhite clothes, such as those worn for cricket, tennis or cooking

Practice

Can you tell the meanings of white apart? Answer 3 quick questions from this page, or write your own sentence and AI will check it.

Origin

This word comes from Old English hwīt, going back to an older Indo-European root meaning bright or shining.

Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

White comes from Old English hwīt. en.wiktionary.org
Its ancestry goes back to an Indo-European root meaning bright or shining. en.wiktionary.org