color line
3
7.9
- noun
- /ˈkʌlər laɪn/
- Formal
:
línea de color
- Now a new debate is emerging in the literature about where the US color line will be drawn and on which side of this line Latinos will fall.
- side of the color line
Now a new debate is emerging in the literature about where the US color line will be drawn and on which side of this line Latinos will fall.
- Now a new debate is emerging in the literature about where the US color line will be drawn and on which side of this line Latinos will fall.
Examples
-
The problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color line.
Fiction book (1997) -
The color line thus affected blacks wherever they traveled and lived.
Academic text (1997) -
I wanted to learn about the difficulties of life on her side of the color line.
Academic text (2016) -
Certainly, individuals permeated the color line, at work and in personal relationships.
Academic text (2009) -
They lived in an Italian neighborhood across a thin color line on the city's southwest side.
Fiction book (2002) -
Believe me when I say that without the government demonizing relations between blacks and whites, the color line will fade.
Blog text (8) -
And while the color line was tilting against blacks, crude meritocratic thinking behind the legislation naturally led people to blame "losers."
Academic text (2002) -
Jackie Robinson's achievement in 1947 is often seen as a pivotal moment in breaking the color line in professional sports.
-
The color line created significant barriers for Black people seeking equal opportunity in education and employment.
-
Discussions about the color line often highlight the ongoing struggle for racial equality in America.
Synonyms
84
6.1
Authorities keep people apart by race or religion, often with different facilities
31
8.9
Laws and social rules that kept Black and white people separate in the Southern United States
17
4.1
Unfair treatment of people because of their race or ethnic background
6
6.5
Keeping people apart because of their race, for example in schools or public places
3
5.9
A rule or practice that keeps Black people and other races from taking part equally with white people
A system that keeps people of different races apart and often denies rights to Black people
Antonyms
How Segregated
10
7.9
- Offensive
6
6.5
- Formal
3
7.9
- Offensive
1
7.1
Surface Forms
Morphology
color + line
The phrase combines 'color' (understood as skin colour/race) with 'line' (a boundary or division), so a B1 learner who knows both words could plausibly infer it refers to a racial division or barrier. However, the specific socio-legal and historical sense of systemic segregation and exclusion encapsulated by the idiom is conventionalized and carries nuances that are not fully predictable from the parts alone.
Etymology
Color line may come from the simple image of a drawn line that separates people by their color or skin color. So it came to mean 'a social or legal barrier' that keeps Black people from taking part equally with white people.