Word definition: green

Etimology


From Middle English grene, from Old English grēne, from Proto-West Germanic *grōnī, from Proto-Germanic *grōniz, from Proto-Indo-European *gʰreh₁- (“to grow”). More at grow. See also North Frisian green, West Frisian grien, Dutch groen, Low German grön, green, greun, German grün, Danish and Norwegian Nynorsk grøn, Swedish grön, Norwegian Bokmål grønn, Icelandic grænn.

adjective


green (comparative greener, superlative greenest)

Of a green hue; with a hue which is of grass or leaves.

(figurative, of people) Sickly, unwell.

Unripe, said of certain fruits that change color when they ripen.

(figurative) Inexperienced.

(politics, sometimes capitalised) Islamist.

(figurative) Full of life and vigour; fresh and vigorous; new; recent.

(figurative, of people) Naive or unaware of obvious facts.

(figurative, of people) Overcome with envy.

(figurative) Environmentally friendly.

(cricket) Describing a pitch which, even if there is no visible grass, still contains a significant amount of moisture.

(dated) Of bacon or similar smallgoods: unprocessed, raw, unsmoked; not smoked or spiced.

(dated) Not fully roasted; half raw.

(film, television, historical) Of film: freshly processed by the laboratory and not yet fully physically hardened.

Of freshly cut wood or lumber that has not been dried: containing moisture and therefore relatively more flexible or springy.

(wine) High or too high in acidity.

(Philippines) Having a sexual connotation.

(particle physics) Having a color charge of green.

Being or relating to the green currencies of the European Union.

(academia) Subject to or involving a model of open access in which a published article is only available for to read for free after an embargo period.

Examples


Synonyms: verdant, vert

Antonyms: nongreen, ungreen

The former flag of Libya is fully green.

The day was cool and snappy for August, and the Rise all green with a lavish nature. Now we plunged into a deep shade with the boughs lacing each other overhead, and crossed dainty, rustic bridges over the cold trout-streams, the boards giving back the clatter of our horses' feet: […] .

Sally looks pretty green—is she going to be sick?

to look so green and pale

Antonym: ripe

Synonyms: see Thesaurus:inexperienced

John's kind of green, so take it easy on him this first week.

I might be angry […] with the officious zeal which supposes that its green conceptions can instruct my grey hairs.

He acted like a green racehorse, plunging over his jumps, tearing to the front of the field of riders.

In its most extreme formulation, this vision has devolved into a caricature of Islam as the "Green Peril" advancing across the world stage, an image that echoes both the "Red Menace" of Cold War discourse and anti-Asian polemics about the "Yellow Peril".

Some politicians tried to encourage this replacement of the red with a green menace.

While Bill Clinton struggled during the 1990s to bring order to a chaotic world increasingly wracked by ethnic and religious conflict, critics detected signs that a new "green" threat - radical Islam - was supplanting the earlier "red threat" - international communism - that had kept every president from Harry Truman to Ronald Reagan awake at night.

Synonyms: see Thesaurus:new

a green manhood

a green wound

as valid against such an old and beneficent government as against […] the greenest usurpation

"How old was I when you first took me in a boat?" "Five and you were nearly a man when I brought the fish in too green and he nearly tore the boat to pieces. Can you remember?"

Synonyms: see Thesaurus:gullible

He was green with envy.

Synonym: eco-friendly

green energy

Green New Deal

As towns continue to grow, replanting vegetation has become a form of urban utopia and green roofs are spreading fast. Last year 1m square metres of plant-covered roofing was built in France, as much as in the US, and 10 times more than in Germany, the pioneer in this field.

Oatly said it hoped Blackstone’s investment would inspire other private equity firms “to steer their collective worth of $4 trillion into green investments.”

Synonyms: raw, unprocessed, unsmoked

Antonyms: processed, smoked, spiced

We say the meat is green when half roasted.

Following initial drying of film in a motion picture laboratory the gelatin structure of an emulsion contracts and is permanently changed. The hardening action still continues for a time as a further small amount of residual moisture is given up. While traces of excess moisture remain, the emulsion is "green," relatively soft, […]

[…] attaching pre-photographed and pre-printed footage of a focusing chart to daily film footage without taking into consideration that such film may be worn or dried out and therefore, in its plane of best focus, would not be identical to that of the green film of the daily rushes.

That timber is still too green to be used.

Synonym: tart

Antonyms: cloy, sweet

Antonym: antigreen

the green pound

the green lira

Coordinate term: gold

Today most open access in medicine and biomedicine is gold, but in every other field it's mostly green.

noun


green (countable and uncountable, plural greens)

The colour of grass and leaves; a primary additive colour midway between yellow and cyan which is evoked by light between roughly roughly 495–570 nm.

(politics, sometimes capitalised) A member of a green party; an environmentalist.

(golf) A putting green, the part of a golf course near the hole.

(bowls) The surface upon which bowls is played.

(snooker) One of the colour balls used in snooker, with a value of 3 points.

(Britain) a public patch of land in the middle of a settlement.

A grassy plain; a piece of ground covered with verdant herbage.

(chiefly in the plural) Fresh leaves or branches of trees or other plants; wreaths.

Any substance or pigment of a green colour.

A green light used as a signal.

(uncountable, slang) Marijuana.

(US, slang, uncountable) Money.

(particle physics) One of the three color charges for quarks.

(theater, informal) Short for green room.

Examples


green:

bright green :

In a period of increasing industrialization and the palette of grey, brown, and black that came to dominate the modern city, greens provided a refreshing contrast, seemingly bringing the outdoors in.

Synonyms: environmentalist, greenie, tree hugger, treehugger

Hyponyms: blue green, red green

How have greens sought to map an ecologically and socially sustainable future for society?

I gave him my putter earlier this year in Oklahoma City. He was having trouble on the greens and I said, ‘Here, try this.’ He did, and he’s been going great guns ever since.

There are eighteen holes but I dare any visitor to find more than, say, twelve fairways and seven or eight greens.

Synonym: bowling green

o'er the smooth enamelled green

In that ſoft Seaſon vvhen deſcending Shovvers / Call forth the Greens, and vvake the riſing Flovvers; […]

To the casual cockpit observer, landing-gear operation appears to be one of the most elementary tasks we have to perform. Either the switch is up and the lights are out, or it's down and there are three greens.

Synonyms: see Thesaurus:marijuana

You're better of smoking the green instead cause it don't blim-burn and it's better for your head.

They see me, hoes actin like they seen a king / With that mean lean, smokin on that finest Cali green

Today, actors say off-handedly, 'See you on the green' or 'I'll be in the green room' without giving the expressions much thought. In Shakespeare's day, actors changed behind the stage in the 'tiring house', […]

Related words


related terms

greens

wintergreen

Etimology


From Middle English grenen, from Old English grēnian (“to become green, flourish”), from Proto-West Germanic *grōnijan, from Proto-Germanic *grōnijōną, *grōnijaną (“to become green”), from the adjective (see above). Cognate with Saterland Frisian gräinje, German Low German grönen, German grünen, Swedish gröna, Icelandic gróna.

verb


green (third-person singular simple present greens, present participle greening, simple past and past participle greened)

(transitive) To make (something) green, to turn (something) green.

To become or grow green in colour.

(transitive) To add greenspaces to (a town, etc.).

(intransitive) To become environmentally aware.

(transitive) To make (something) environmentally friendly.

Examples


Great spring before greened all the year.

Out of that tub had come the day before—Tess felt it with a dreadful sting of remorse - the very white frock upon her back which she had so carelessly greened about the skirt on the damping grass - which had been wrung up and ironed by her mother's own hands.

O rosetree planted in my grief, / And growing, on her tomb, / Her dust is greening in your leaf, / Her blood is in your bloom.

by greening slope and singing flood

The newer 39-story, 1.5-million-square-foot tower occupies much of the original Shearson Garden, a larger parklet that briefly greened the construction site to be, and is remembered fondly by nearby Tribecans.

"The SNP like to talk the talk about net zero targets, but they can't walk the walk. We need a fares freeze for everyone if we want to get serious about greening the economy and a public railway run in the public interest."

Related words


synonyms

(make (something) green): engreen

Data provided by Wiktionary