grey

Other forms: greying; greys; greyer; greyed; greyest

Grey is an alternate spelling for the word gray, which is a color derived from mixing white and black. The word has also come to stand in for other mixtures as well. A person in a grey mood feels gloomy.

If you are commanding a military force and you’re not sure whether you should attack a crowd that is half enemy fighters and half innocent citizens, you could say the decision falls in a grey zone. Grey can be a verb too. When you get old, your hair will grey if you don’t go bald first.

Definitions of grey

1. adjective

   of an achromatic color of any lightness intermediate between the extremes of white and black
   “the little grey cells”

   synonyms: gray, grayish, greyish

   achromatic, neutral

   having no hue
2. noun

   a neutral achromatic color midway between white and black
   synonyms: gray, grayness, greyness

   types:

   ash gray, ash grey, silver, silver gray, silver grey

   a light shade of grey

   charcoal, charcoal gray, charcoal grey, oxford gray, oxford grey

   a very dark grey color

   dapple-gray, dapple-grey, dappled-gray, dappled-grey

   grey with a mottled pattern of darker grey markings

   iron-gray, iron-grey

   the color of freshly broken cast iron

   tattletale gray, tattletale grey

   a greyish white

   Davy's gray, Davy's grey, iron blue, steel gray, steel grey

   slightly purplish or bluish dark grey

   type of:

   achromatic color, achromatic colour

   a color lacking hue; white or grey or black
3. verb

   make grey
   “The painter decided to grey the sky”

   synonyms: gray

   type of:

   color, color in, colorise, colorize, colour, colour in, colourise, colourize

   add color to
4. verb

   turn grey
   “Her hair began to grey”

   synonyms: gray

   type of:

   color, colour, discolor, discolour

   change color, often in an undesired manner
5. noun

   clothing that is a grey color
   “he was dressed in grey”

   synonyms: gray

   type of:

   article of clothing, clothing, habiliment, vesture, wear, wearable

   a covering designed to be worn on a person's body
6. noun

   any organization or party whose uniforms or badges are grey
   “the Confederate army was a vast grey”

   synonyms: gray

   types:

   Army of the Confederacy, Confederate Army

   the southern army during the American Civil War

   type of:

   organisation, organization

   a group of people who work together
7. adjective

   used to signify the Confederate forces in the American Civil War (who wore grey uniforms)
   “a stalwart grey figure”

   synonyms: gray

   southern

   in or characteristic of a region of the United States south of (approximately) the Mason-Dixon line
8. adjective

   showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair
   synonyms: gray, gray-haired, gray-headed, grey-haired, grey-headed, grizzly, hoar, hoary, white-haired

   old

   (used especially of persons) having lived for a relatively long time or attained a specific age
9. adjective

   intermediate in character or position
   “a grey area between clearly legal and strictly illegal”

   synonyms: gray

   intermediate

   lying between two extremes in time or space or state
10. noun

    horse of a light gray or whitish color
    synonyms: gray

    type of:

    mount, riding horse, saddle horse

    a lightweight horse kept for riding only