person of color

noun

plural people of color also persons of color
: a person whose skin pigmentation is other than and especially darker than what is considered characteristic of people typically defined as white (see white entry 1 sense 2a) : a person who is of a race (see race entry 1 sense 1a) other than white or who is of mixed race
People of color account for 43 percent of the active-duty military, but the top ranks are largely white and male.Helene Cooper
Because we are so accustomed to talking about race in terms of black and white, we often fail to recognize and contest expressions of racism that target people of color who are not black.Angela Y. Davis

Examples of person of color in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
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The school's Board of Trustees tapped Ah Yun last fall, marking the first time a person of color will lead Marquette and just the second time a lay person is in charge of the 143-year-old Jesuit university. Kelly Meyerhofer, jsonline.com, 30 July 2025 In the 2021 press release, NASA said the program would help land the first woman and person of color on the moon. Mandy Taheri, MSNBC Newsweek, 6 June 2025 To his point, the salon is primarily a showcase for Omar King, a neurodivergent person of color whose folksy demeanor belies his raunchy writing style. John McDermott, Rolling Stone, 6 July 2025 Should the list of Bond candidates be accurate, all three are white actors, though it has been widely suggested by fans that a future Bond could or should be a person of color. Brian Welk, IndieWire, 27 June 2025 See All Example Sentences for person of color

Word History

First Known Use

1778, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of person of color was in 1778

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Cite this Entry

“Person of color.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/person%20of%20color. Accessed 21 Aug. 2025.

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