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gray
1[ grey ]
adjective
- of a color between white and black; having a neutral hue.
- dark, dismal, or gloomy:
gray skies.
- dull, dreary, or monotonous.
- having gray hair; gray-headed.
- pertaining to old age; mature.
- Informal. pertaining to, involving, or composed of older persons:
gray households.
- old or ancient.
- indeterminate and intermediate in character:
The tax audit concentrated on deductions in the gray area between purely personal and purely business expenses.
noun
- any achromatic color; any color with zero chroma, intermediate between white and black.
- something of this color.
- gray material or clothing:
to dress in gray.
- an unbleached and undyed condition.
- (often initial capital letter) a member of the Confederate army in the American Civil War or the army itself. Compare blue ( def 5 ).
- a horse of a gray color.
- a horse that appears white but is not an albino.
verb (used with or without object)
- to make or become gray.
gray
2[ grey ]
noun
- the standard unit of absorbed dose of radiation (such as x-rays) in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the amount of ionizing radiation absorbed when the energy imparted to matter is 1 J/kg (one joule per kilogram). : Gy
Gray
3[ grey ]
noun
- · [ey, -s, uh], 1810–88, U.S. botanist.
- Robert, 1755–1806, U.S. explorer and sea captain: discovered the Columbia River.
- Thomas, 1716–71, English poet.
Gray
1/ ɡɪ /
noun
- GrayThomas17161771MEnglishWRITING: poet Thomas. 1716–71, English poet, best known for his Elegy written in a Country Churchyard (1751)
gray
2/ ɡɪ /
adjective
- a variant spelling (now esp US) of grey
gray
3/ ɡɪ /
noun
- the derived SI unit of absorbed ionizing radiation dose or kerma equivalent to an absorption per unit mass of one joule per kilogram of irradiated material. 1 gray is equivalent to 100 rads Gy
gray
- The SI derived unit used to measure the energy absorbed by a substance per unit weight of the substance when exposed to radiation. One gray is equal to one joule per kilogram, or 100 rads. The gray is named after British physicist Louis Harold Gray (1905–1965).
Derived Forms
- ˈԱ, noun
- ˈ, adverb
- ˈ⾱, adjective
Other Word Forms
- l especially British, l adverb
- n especially British, n noun
- ܲ· especially British, ܲ· adjective
Word History and Origins
Origin of gray1
Origin of gray2
Word History and Origins
Origin of gray1
Idioms and Phrases
- get gray hair from
Example Sentences
At the same time, the middle managers, the men in the gray flannel suits, on occasion they got doses of rhetoric that the Cultural Revolution would've been proud of.
A 40-ton gray whale surfaced beside me — spy-hopping, they call it — her towering grace lifting from the water, close enough that I could see the walnut shine of her left eye.
The Colossal animals are snowy white, resembling the snowy or gray animals of the TV series.
I noticed that many of your previous papers cover the gray vireo, which your new study quantifies as a “drab,” understudied bird.
But his own life experience turned what looked like black and white into his version of gray.
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Gray Vs. Grey
’s the difference between gray and grey?
Gray and grey are simply different spellings of the same word, which refers to the color halfway between black and white (among other more figurative meanings).
In popular use, the two spellings are used interchangeably, though one spelling is often preferred in many places. The spelling gray is much more common in American English, while grey is more common in British English.
Remember: spell gray with an a in America, and spell grey with an e in England (among other places).
Want to learn more? Read the full breakdown of the difference between gray and grey.
Quiz yourself on gray vs. grey!
True or False?
The words gray and grey are always used to refer to slightly different colors.
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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