- 1 having the colour of smoke or ashes grey eyes/hair wisps of grey smoke a grey suit Oxford Collocations Dictionary adverbuniformly, very, quite, … adjectivedark, light, pale, … See full entry
- 2 [not usually before noun] having grey hair He's gone very grey. Wordfinderblondeauburn, blonde, dark, fair, ginger, grey, jet black, mousy, redhead, sandy Oxford Collocations Dictionary verbsbe, go, turn, … adverbvery, quite, slightly, … See full entry See related entries: Middle age
- 3 (of the sky or weather) dull; full of clouds grey skies I hate these grey days. See related entries: Sky
- 4(of a person’s skin colour) pale and dull, because they are ill/sick, tired or sad The next morning she looked very grey and hollow-eyed.
- 5without interest or variety; making you feel sad Life seems grey and pointless without him. See related entries: Unhappiness
- 6(disapproving) not interesting or attractive The company was full of faceless grey men who all looked the same.
- 7[only before noun] connected with old people the grey vote grey power Word OriginOld English grǣg, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch grauw and German grau.Extra examples She was completely grey by the age of thirty. The sky looks very grey. I think it’s going to rain. a light grey suit He’d turned quite grey. The old man’s beard was mostly grey. His face was grey with pain. It is thought of as a city of grey bureaucracy. Ours is a company that isn’t run by grey men in suits. She had to talk to some grey under-secretary from the Ministry.
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BrE BrE//ɡreɪ//; NAmE NAmE//ɡreɪ//
(especially British English) (usually North American English gray) Unhappiness, Middle age, SkyCheck pronunciation: grey
