grey (greyer comparative) (greyest superlative )
in AM, use gray
1 colour Grey is the colour of ashes or of clouds on a rainy day.
...a grey suit.
2 adj 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 If the weather is grey, there are many clouds in the sky and the light is dull.
It was a grey, wet April Sunday.
greyness n-uncount
...winter's greyness.
4 adj If you describe a situation as grey, you mean that it is dull, unpleasant, or difficult.
(=bleak)
Brazilians look gloomily forward to a New Year that even the president admits will be grey and cheerless.
greyness n-uncount
In this new world of greyness there is an attempt to remove all risks.
5 adj 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., (disapproval)
...little grey men in suits.
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.
grey area (grey areas plural )
in AM, use gray area If you refer to something as a grey area, you mean that it is unclear, for example because nobody is sure how to deal with it or who is responsible for it, or it falls between two separate categories of things. n-count
At the moment, the law on compensation is very much a grey area., ...that gray area between blue-collar laborers and white-collar professionals.
grey market (grey markets plural )
in AM, use gray market
1 n-sing Grey market goods are bought unofficially and then sold to customers at lower prices than usual. (BUSINESS) oft N n, the N
Grey-market perfumes and toiletries are now commonly sold by mail.
2 n-sing Grey market shares are sold to investors before they have been officially issued. (BUSINESS) oft N n, the N
At one point last week shares in the grey market touched 230p.
grey matter
in AM, use gray matter
You can refer to your intelligence or your brains as grey matter.
INFORMAL n-uncount
...an unsolved mathematical equation which has caused his grey matter to work overtime.
