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black and white

black and white

61 3.1
A photo, film, or TV picture in shades of black, white and gray
  • noun
  • /blæk ənd waɪt/
translation icon : fotografía en blanco y negro
  • And it's a black and white photo of Chris.
  • a black and white photo
  • a black and white photograph
  • a black and white film

Examples

  • Along with them, the black and white photo of young Early and his mother.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • Or shooting my first role of black and white film in Paris.

  • But there it was, in black and white.

  • Big name in black and white films.

  • Great horror movies are in black and white.

  • Past members are also represented, with another 30 black and white prints, some dating back to the 1950s.

    Academic text (2000)
  • Jordan added to this sound work a photographic montage, a black and white silent film, as she called it.

  • I click one button, a hundred newsmen will read your name alongside Sam Lancaster's in black and white.

  • "Inevitably, there is a pause, and then the description begins: "It's a black-and-white photograph of a man.

    Academic text (2008)
  • This black and white photograph captures the beauty of the landscape at dawn.

Synonyms

black-and-white
vsblack and white
34 2.5

An image, film, or pattern that uses only black, white and gray

refers specifically to a photo, film, or TV image made in those tones
monochrome
vsblack and white
4 6.3

A picture made using only one color or its different shades

uses two opposite tones and grays rather than a single color's shades

Antonyms

color
  • US
1.0

Able to show natural shades instead of only black and white

How Colorful

color
  • US
1.0
sepia
8 6.0
tinted
16 3.2
black and white
61 3.1

Surface Forms

Morphology

black + and + white

The meaning 'a photo produced in shades of black, white, and gray' is directly and compositionally derived from the constituents 'black' + 'and' + 'white'—the words literally describe the colours present in the image. This descriptive, cross-linguistically common pattern follows basic adjective coordination and is immediately comprehensible to a B1 learner who knows the component words.

Etymology

Black and white originally named a picture or film made only with black, white and gray tones, like the old movies and photos before color was possible. That's why a 'black and white' is 'a picture without color'.