colourless

«colourless» in Mova's school dictionary: having no colour at all, like clear water or air — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 2 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

adjective (colourless; US «colorless»)

meaning for a pupil

1) Colourless means having no colour at all, like clear water or air. tree →

2) Colourless can mean pale and grey: «a colourless face». tree →

3) Colourless can mean dull and boring, with nothing interesting: «a colourless town». tree →

sense in the lessons

In science lessons, many gases (oxygen, carbon dioxide) and liquids (water) are colourless; pupils learn that colourless is not the same as invisible or safe, as some colourless gases are poisonous. In stories, a colourless person is dull or shy. Phrases: «colourless liquid», «colourless gas», «colourless and odourless».

examples

• Water is a colourless liquid. tree →
• Oxygen is a colourless gas with no smell. tree →
• After the shock, her face was colourless. tree →
• The old town felt grey and colourless. tree →
• Carbon monoxide is colourless and deadly, so homes need alarms. tree →
• Mix the colourless solution with the indicator and watch it turn pink. tree →

note

British spelling «colourless»; US «colorless». Colourless means «no colour», but «clear» and «transparent» mean you can see through it; a colourless liquid is usually clear. Safety trap: a colourless liquid in a bottle may not be water.

In the corpora

• A polar bear's fur looks white, but each hair is actually colourless and the skin underneath is black.
• Each hair of a polar bear's fur is colourless, and the skin underneath is black.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «colourless» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.