non-white

1 of 2

adjective

ˌnän-ˈ(h)wīt 

variants or less commonly nonwhite

1

: not of a white race (see race entry 1 sense 1a)

non-white immigrants

non-white Alaskans

2

: not of the color white

… I was standing at the very top of the ladder and stretching to paint over the last non-white spot on the ceiling …

—Xaver Bayer

non-white

2 of 2

noun

variants or less commonly nonwhite

plural non-whites also nonwhites

: a person who is not of a white race (see race entry 1 sense 1a)

Examples of non-white in a Sentence

Noun

The program is even less popular among nonwhites.

Recent Examples on the Web

Adjective

In January, South Africa enacted the Expropriation Act, which officials said could right the wrongs of apartheid by allowing the government to seize land and redistribute it in an effort to correct disparities in land ownership between non-white and white South Africans. —Molly Bohannon, Forbes.com, 12 May 2025

Peroxide and other bleaching agents can cause irreversible color loss in non-white fabrics. —Jolie Kerr, Better Homes & Gardens, 7 May 2025

Noun

Share [Findings] Drivers of fancy cars yield to pedestrians less often than drivers of humble cars, and still less if the pedestrians are non-white men. —Kyle Paoletta, Harpers Magazine, 29 Mar. 2023

But the lead acts — Bad Bunny, Blackpink, and Frank Ocean — also make history as the first group of 100% non-white Coachella headliners. —Oscar Hartzog, Rolling Stone, 28 Mar. 2023

Word History

First Known Use

Adjective

1806, in the meaning defined at sense 2

Noun

1864, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for non-white

• affright
• airtight
• albite
• alight
• alright
• aplite
• aright
• bainite
• birthright
• bobwhite
• bornite
• bullfight