What's the difference between
and
Enter two words to compare and contrast their definitions, origins, and synonyms to better understand how those words are related.

Colour vs Shape - What's the difference?

colour | shape |

As nouns the difference between colour and shape

is that colour is the spectral composition of visible light while shape is the status or condition of something.

As verbs the difference between colour and shape

is that colour is to give something colour while shape is to give something a shape and definition.

As an adjective colour

is conveying colour, as opposed to shades of grey.

colour

English

(Color) {{ picdic , image=Color circle (hue-sat).png , width=310 , labels= , detail1=Click on labels in the image }} Alternative forms * color (US) (see the below)

Noun

  • (lb) The spectral composition of visible light.
  • :
  • (lb) A particular set of visible spectral compositions, perceived or named as a class.
  • *, chapter=5
  • , title= The Mirror and the Lamp , passage=Here, in the transept and choir, where the service was being held, one was conscious every moment of an increasing brightness; colours glowing vividly beneath the circular chandeliers, and the rows of small lights on the choristers' desks flashed and sparkled in front of the boys' faces, deep linen collars, and red neckbands.}}
  • (lb) Hue as opposed to achromatic colours (black, white and greys).
  • :
  • (lb) Human skin tone, especially as an indicator of race or ethnicity.
  • :
  • (lb) Interest, especially in a selective area.
  • :
  • *
  • *:Three chairs of the steamer type, all maimed, comprised the furniture of this roof-garden, with (by way of local colour ) on one of the copings a row of four red clay flower-pots filled with sun-baked dust.
  • (lb) Any of the standard dark tinctures used in a coat of arms, including azure, gules, sable, and vert. Contrast with metal.
  • (lb) A standard or banner.
  • :
  • The system of colour television.
  • :
  • (lb) An award for sporting achievement, particularly within a school or university.
  • :
  • In corporate finance, details on sales, profit margins, or other financial figures, especially while reviewing quarterly results when an officer of a company is speaking to investment analysts.
  • :
  • (lb) A property of quarks, with three values called red, green, and blue, which they can exchange by passing gluons.
  • (lb) The relative lightness or darkness of a mass of written or printed text on a page.
  • (lb) Any of the coloured balls excluding the reds.
  • A front or : an ostensible truth actually false.
  • An appearance of right or authority.
  • :
  • (lb) Skin colour noted as: normal, jaundice, cyanotic, flush, mottled, pale, or ashen as part of the skin signs assessment.
  • Usage notes

    The late (etyl) colour'', which is the standard UK spelling, has been the usual spelling in Britain since the 14th century and was chosen by (1828), along with favor, honor, etc., and is currently the standard US spelling. In Canada, colour'' is preferred, but ''color'' is not unknown; in Australia, ''-our'' endings are the standard, although ''-or'' endings had some currency in the past and are still sporadically found in some regions. In New Zealand, ''-our endings are the standard.

    Synonyms

    * (spectral composition of visible light) blee * (particular set named as a class) blee, hue * hue, shade, blee * (human skin tone as an indicator of race or ethnicity) colour of one’s skin, complexion, blee, ethnicity, race * interest * (dark tincture) stain * (standard or banner) banner, standard * (colour television) colour television

    Derived terms

    * colour-blind * colour charge * colour code * colour commentator * coloured * colourful * colour of fire * flame-colour * colourimeter * colourise * colourism * colourless * colours * discoloration * in colour * off-colour * prismatic colours * true colours

    Adjective

    (-)
  • Conveying colour, as opposed to shades of grey.
  • Colour television and films were considered a great improvement over black and white.

    Verb

    (en verb)
  • To give something colour.
  • We could colour the walls red.
  • To apply colours to the areas within the boundaries of a line drawing using coloured markers or crayons.
  • My kindergartener loves to colour .
  • (of a face) To become red through increased blood flow.
  • ''Her face coloured as she realised her mistake.
  • To affect without completely changing.
  • That interpretation certainly colours my perception of the book.
  • (informal) To attribute a quality to.
  • Colour me confused.
  • (mathematics) To assign colours to the vertices of (a graph) or the regions of (a map) so that no two adjacent ones have the same colour.
  • Can this graph be two-coloured ?
    You can colour any map with four colours.

    Synonyms

    * (give something colour) dye, paint, stain, shade, tinge, tint * (apply colours within boundaries of a line drawing) * blush * (affect without completely changing) affect, influence * (attribute a quality to) call

    Derived terms

    * colour by numbers

    See also

    * tincture *

    Anagrams

    * 1000 English basic words ----

    shape

    English

    Noun

    (en noun)
  • The status or condition of something
  • The used bookshop wouldn't offer much due to the poor shape of the book.
  • Condition of personal health, especially muscular health.
  • The vet checked to see what kind of shape the animal was in.
    We exercise to keep in good physical shape .
  • The appearance of something, especially its outline.
  • He cut a square shape out of the cake.
  • A figure with unspecified appearance; especially a geometric figure.
  • What shape shall we use for the cookies? Stars, circles, or diamonds?
  • Form; formation.
  • * 2006 , Berdj Kenadjian, Martin Zakarian, From Darkness to Light :
  • What if God's plans and actions do mold the shape of human events?
  • (iron manufacture) A rolled or hammered piece, such as a bar, beam, angle iron, etc., having a cross section different from merchant bar.
  • (iron manufacture) A piece which has been roughly forged nearly to the form it will receive when completely forged or fitted.
  • A mould for making jelly, blancmange etc., or a piece of such food formed moulded into a particular shape.
  • *1918 , (Rebecca West), The Return of the Soldier , Virago 2014, p. 74:
  • *:‘And if I'm late for supper there's a dish of macaroni cheese you must put in the oven and a tin of tomatoes to eat with it. And there's a little rhubarb and shape .’
  • Hyponyms

    * See also

    Derived terms

    * contest shape * * in no shape to * * in shape * out of shape * shapeless * shapely * shapesmith * shape-shifter * shape-shifting * shipshape * take shape * the shape of things to come * whip into shape

    See also

    *

    Verb

  • To give something a shape and definition.
  • * 1932 , The American Scholar , page 227, United Chapters of Phi Beta Kappa
  • The professor never pretended to the academic prerogative of forcing his students into his own channels of reasoning; he entered into and helped shape the discussion but above all he made his men learn to think for themselves and rely upon their own intellectual judgments.
  • * {{quote-magazine, date=2013-08-03, volume=408, issue=8847, magazine=(The Economist)
  • , title= Revenge of the nerds , passage=Think of banking today and the image is of grey-suited men in towering skyscrapers. Its future, however, is being shaped in converted warehouses and funky offices in San Francisco, New York and London, where bright young things in jeans and T-shirts huddle around laptops, sipping lattes or munching on free food.}}
  • To form or manipulate something into a certain shape.
  • * Prior
  • Grace shaped her limbs, and beauty decked her face.
  • * {{quote-news, year=2010, date=December 29, author=Mark Vesty, work=BBC
  • , title= Wigan 2-2 Arsenal , passage=Bendtner's goal-bound shot was well saved by goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi but fell to Arsahvin on the edge of the area and the Russian swivelled, shaped his body and angled a sumptuous volley into the corner. }}
  • (of a country, person, etc) To give influence to.
  • To suit; to be adjusted or conformable.
  • (Shakespeare)
  • (obsolete) To imagine; to conceive.
  • * Shakespeare
  • Oft my jealousy / Shapes faults that are not.

    Synonyms

    * (give shape) form, mold

    Derived terms

    * beshape * foreshape * forshape * misshape * overshape * shape up

    Anagrams

    * * * 1000 English basic words