grey

[[t]gre͟ɪ[/t]]

♦♦

greyer, greyest

(in AM, use gray)

1) COLOUR Grey is the colour of ashes or of clouds on a rainy day.

...a grey suit.

2) ADJ-GRADED You use grey to describe the colour of people's hair when it changes from its original colour, usually as they get old.

...my grey hair...

Eddie was going grey.

3) ADJ-GRADED If the weather is grey, there are many clouds in the sky and the light is dull.

It was a grey, wet April Sunday.

Derived words:

greyness N-UNCOUNT

...winter's greyness.

4) ADJ-GRADED If you describe a situation as grey, you mean that it is dull, unpleasant, or difficult.

Brazilians look gloomily forward to a New Year that even the president admits will be grey and cheerless.

Syn:

bleak

Derived words:

greyness N-UNCOUNT

In this new world of greyness there is an attempt to remove all risks.

5) ADJ-GRADED (disapproval) If you describe someone or something as grey, you think that they are boring and unattractive, and very similar to other things or other people.

...little grey men in suits.

Derived words:

greyness N-UNCOUNT with supp

Journalists are frustrated by his apparent greyness.

6) ADJ Journalists sometimes use grey to describe things concerning old people.

There was further evidence of grey consumer power last week, when Ford revealed a car designed with elderly people in mind.