graying

adjective

gray·​ing ˈgrā-iŋ How to pronounce graying (audio)
variants or less commonly greying
1
: becoming gray or dull in color
His … hat thumbed back to show a wide brow and a bristle of graying hair.Helen MacInnes
Other objects had been mounted according to kind on graying scraps of plywood, which leaned about the room—against bookshelves, in corners—like canvases about a painter's studio.Donovan Hohn
2
: having hair that is becoming gray : becoming older
Through heavy promotion and advertising directed at a graying population, the nutritious elixir has become a blockbuster seller …Michael J. McCarthy
As I wait to pay the cashier, secure in her glass booth, I glance back over the starkly lit room, the graying waiters, the regulars hunched over stacks of hotcakes.Javier Cabral

Examples of graying in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web Leng was in his early fifties, with a bowl cut of coarse graying hair. Gideon Lewis-Kraus, The New Yorker, 15 Apr. 2024 Holding the entire assemblage aloft in the graying Vienna morning was a 30-foot pair of collapsible hang glider wings. Smithsonian Magazine, 17 Aug. 2023 Bornstein’s graying hair was pushed back from his face, his eyes scanning the computer notes through dark-rimmed glasses. Jessica Bartlett, BostonGlobe.com, 3 June 2023 The dullness makes the one pop of color even more striking: The rainbow flag that hangs outside the home of Kei Okuda, a svelte 62-year-old with a sleek graying ponytail and a bold red lip. Julia Mio Inuma, Washington Post, 12 Apr. 2023 With its special anti-graying formula, this product is perfect for keeping delicate garments at their brightest and most vibrant. Amber Smith, Discover Magazine, 4 Apr. 2023 Our teacher was middle-aged and graying and German-born. Cynthia Ozick, The Atlantic, 3 Aug. 2022

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'graying.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1796, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of graying was in 1796

Dictionary Entries Near graying

Cite this Entry

“Graying.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/graying. Accessed 13 Oct. 2024.

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