whiteness
noun
white·ness
ˈ(h)wīt-nəs 
1
: the quality or state of being white: such as
a
: white color
The whiteness of a diamond is the most important factor, unless you're buying a fancy color like yellow or pink.—
The New York Times Style Magazine
The New York Times Style Magazine
c
: freedom from stain : cleanness
During the day, housewives pegged out billowing sheets, knowing that here in the tough North they were judged on clean linen and the whiteness of the front doorstep …—Paul West
Paul West2
: something (such as an area or a substance) that is white in color
… this widening in the river, a place indistinguishable in winter from the surrounding whiteness …—John Hildebrand
John HildebrandThe curtains were being drawn across the aeroplane windows; a screen was lowered at the head of the cabin; images flickered on the whiteness ahead.—Shashi Tharoor
Shashi TharoorThis is a gelid whiteness, studded with a few bits of … fruit and altogether devoid of discernible flavor or sweetness.—Jay Jacobs
Jay Jacobs3
: the fact or state of belonging to a population group that has light pigmentation of the skin : the fact or state of being white (see white entry 1 sense 2a)
Racial or color categories communicate the long-standing color scale in which lightness/whiteness is more desirable and more socially valued than darkness/blackness.—Nadine Fernandez
Nadine FernandezDid I yearn to convert to whiteness? As a child, if it had been a matter of pushing a button, there were times when I would have pushed it as idly and insistently as a man waiting for an elevator.—Kenji Yoshino
Kenji YoshinoThe proposition that whiteness, as such, has no content but is rather a negation, the identity of not-being-black, is a shocking revelation to most white Americans, who continue to imagine that there is a nonracist way of defining their whiteness in positive terms, although they are tongue-tied when asked to say what it is.—Orlando Patterson
Orlando PattersonExamples of whiteness in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web
His fraternity brothers at Amherst College acknowledge his whiteness, but regard it as impure, murky.
—Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
After approximately 300 hours of use, the toothpaste also improved the whiteness of our teeth.
—Isabella Ubaldi, Verywell Health, 19 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for whiteness 
Jennifer Wilson, The New Yorker, 6 May 2024
After approximately 300 hours of use, the toothpaste also improved the whiteness of our teeth.
—Isabella Ubaldi, Verywell Health, 19 Apr. 2024
See all Example Sentences for whiteness
These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'whiteness.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.
Dictionary Entries Near whiteness
Cite this Entry
“Whiteness.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/whiteness. Accessed 29 May. 2024.
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