hue

/(h)ju/

/hju/

Other forms: hues; hued

Green, orange, yellow, and blue — each of these is a hue, a color or a shade that's true. A rainbow shows the melting of one hue into another, from red to violet, and all shades in between.

The noun hue means both a color and a shade of a color. Green is a hue, and turquoise is a hue of both green and blue. Most of the time the word hue refers to colors, but sometimes it's used for shades of meaning or even the tone of a person's face, as in "The speech had a hue of politics — disguised with humor — that turned the mayor's face from a pale hue to red as he laughed."

Definitions of hue

1. noun

   the quality of a color as determined by its dominant wavelength
   synonyms: chromaticity

   type of:

   color property

   an attribute of color
2. verb

   take on color or become colored
   “In highlights it hued to a dull silver-grey”

   types:

   pigment

   acquire pigment; become colored or imbued

   type of:

   alter, change, modify

   cause to change; make different; cause a transformation
3. verb

   suffuse with color
   synonyms: imbue

   type of:

   color, color in, colorise, colorize, colour, colour in, colourise, colourize

   add color to