white
- noun
- /waɪt/
- UK
- A young man dressed in tennis whites skips down the stairs, two more suits thrown over his arm.
Examples
-
Kathleen drove past two young couples in tennis whites standing by the net on a pristine clay court.
Fiction book (2002) -
His whites are a little big.
-
I am so excited to have finally found a pair of white pants.
-
I feel like this would be really cute with white jeans.
-
Put on some clean whites.
-
- I'd like to see you in whites.
-
Julia Vega swears that she's at the top of the stairs every morning when she comes down to do the laundry, making sure she's separating the whites and the darks.
-
He wore his favorite whites while playing tennis on a sunny afternoon.
-
Before the match, the team changed into their crisp whites for a more professional appearance.
-
The coach emphasized the importance of wearing the proper whites during training sessions.
Synonyms
Light-colored trousers made from soft cloth and often worn for formal or sports events
Clothes of light color worn for sports or as part of a uniform
Idioms
- Informal
To try to reach a very difficult or impossible goal for a long time
- Slur
People say it when something seems typical of white people and shows white privilege
Compounds
The government building in Washington, D.C. where the US president lives and works
- Offensive
A person who thinks white people are better than other races and should control society
- Slur
An insulting word for poor white people, especially in the southern United States
- Offensive
The belief that white people are better than people of other races and should control society
- Specialized
A steady sound made of all tones that hides other sounds and helps people sleep
- Specialized
Tissue in the brain and spinal cord that carries messages between different brain areas
- Specialized
A small, very dense star that remains after a star uses its fuel and glows with leftover heat
A pale, silver-coloured metal that people make by mixing gold with other metals for jewellery
A light-colored spice that comes from ripe peppercorns with their skins removed and has a milder taste than black pepper
- Archaic
A printed list of people's names and home phone numbers in alphabetical order
A North American deer with a white underside to its tail that it raises when scared
- Offensive
A person who wants white people to live apart from people of other races
- Formal
A very formal men's evening dress code requiring a white bow tie and tailcoat
A white person with British family background who follows Protestant Christianity and is often from a socially important group
- Informal
An expensive thing that costs a lot to keep and is more trouble than it is worth
- Slur
A white man, often middle-aged or older, who feels very upset and bitter about social change
Surface Forms
Etymology
White in the plural for sports clothes comes from the usual color of those garments, named after the color white. So 'your whites' are the light-colored clothes you wear for cricket or tennis.