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

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

The State of the Air report also found that a person of color is more than twice as likely to live in a community with a failing grade for all three measures of pollution covered in the report. —Newsweek Staff, MSNBC Newsweek, 26 June 2025

But there’s also something so interesting about Dr. Santos being a largely white-coding person of color. —Nicholas Quah, Vulture, 10 Apr. 2025

As a trans feminine, person of color of immigrant experience, Arevalo is dedicated to ensuring that everyone has access to high-quality, inclusive and affordable healthcare. —Anne Gelhaus, Mercury News, 15 June 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1778, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for person of color

• bicolor
• concolor
• discolor
• tricolor
• colour
• culler
• duller
• multicolor
• technicolor
• unicolor
• versicolor
• watercolor