colorless

[ kuhl-er-lis ]

adjective

1. without color:

   Pure water is colorless.

2. pallid; dull in color:

   a colorless complexion.

3. lacking vividness or distinctive character; dull; insipid:

   a colorless description of the parade.

   Synonyms: unexciting, lackluster, drab, dreary

4. unbiased; neutral.

Other Words From

• color·less·ly adverb
• color·less·ness noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of colorless¹

Middle English word dating back to 1350–1400; color, -less

Example Sentences

Hydrogen sulfide is a colorless, flammable, highly toxic gas with the odor of rotten eggs.

From Los Angeles Times

Trichloroethylene, or TCE, is a colorless liquid that has been used to remove gunk from jet engines, strip paint and remove stains from shirts dropped off at the dry cleaners.

From Los Angeles Times

The gas is colorless and odorless.

From Seattle Times

In demonstrations, Xu's MOF electrochromic film took 2 seconds to switch from colorless to green with an electric potential of 0.8 volts, and 2 seconds to switch to dark red with 1.6 V. The film maintained the green or red color for 40 hours when the potential dropped, unless a reverse voltage was applied to return the film to its transparent state.

From Science Daily

As oxymorons go, it’s the operatic equivalent to Noam Chomsky’s famous syntactic puzzle “Colorless green ideas sleep furiously.”

From New York Times

Related Words

• dreary
• dull
• lackluster