"black and white" meaning in All languages combined

See black and white on Wiktionary

Adjective [English]

Audio: en-au-black and white.ogg [Australia] Forms: more black and white [comparative], most black and white [superlative], black-and-white [alternative]
Etymology: The police car sense reflects a traditional livery scheme for such cars. Head templates: {{en-adj}} black and white (comparative more black and white, superlative most black and white)
  1. (literal, strictly) Of art, a photograph or photography, using dots or lines that are either black or white (with no other values involved). Coordinate_terms: grayscale, greyscale, monochrome, color, colour
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-adj-xExEE0zC
  2. (literal, loosely) Of art, a photograph or photography, using shades of grey rather than shades of any other color. Tags: broadly Synonyms: grayscale, greyscale, monochrome Coordinate_terms: color, colour Translations (clear cut): mustavalkoinen (Finnish), czarno na białym (Polish)
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-adj-DfnoBWJR Disambiguation of 'clear cut': 18 35 12 14 22
  3. Of a television or monitor, displaying images in shades of grey rather than color. Coordinate_terms: color, colour
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-adj-ssGW7XuE
  4. Classifying people, objects or concepts as two polar opposites, especially "right" and "wrong"; dichotomous and inflexible.
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-adj-yi9IZv6f Categories (other): English entries with incorrect language header, English merisms, Pages with 1 entry, Pages with entries, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English entries with incorrect language header: 3 5 2 30 13 11 4 5 24 2 Disambiguation of English merisms: 5 6 3 24 12 12 8 7 18 5 Disambiguation of Pages with 1 entry: 2 3 2 38 6 12 3 2 28 4 Disambiguation of Pages with entries: 2 6 2 35 13 10 2 2 25 4 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 4 7 4 24 14 8 4 5 23 7
  5. Easily divided into diametrically opposing categories. Synonyms: night-and-day
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-adj-wbK5QLV- Categories (other): English links with manual fragments, English coordinated pairs, Terms with German translations Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 4 7 4 24 14 8 4 5 23 7

Noun [English]

Audio: en-au-black and white.ogg [Australia] Forms: black and whites [plural], black-and-white [alternative]
Etymology: The police car sense reflects a traditional livery scheme for such cars. Head templates: {{en-noun}} black and white (plural black and whites)
  1. (US, slang, law enforcement) A police patrol car. Tags: US, slang Synonyms: police vehicle Translations (slang: police patrol car): piiska (Finnish), radiowóz [masculine] (Polish), suka [feminine] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-noun-y31u2AWd Categories (other): American English, Law enforcement, English coordinated pairs Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7 Topics: government, law-enforcement Disambiguation of 'slang: police patrol car': 94 4 0 1 1
  2. (US, slang, by extension) The police, a police officer or the clothing they wear. Tags: US, broadly, slang
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-noun-3Gll~i5m Categories (other): American English, English coordinated pairs Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7
  3. A type of giant cookie (about eight inches in diameter) with icing on the top side: half white, half dark chocolate. Synonyms: half-moon Related terms: Black Maria Translations (cookie): Amerikaner (German), wielkie ciastko [neuter] (Polish)
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-noun-3e92wFGv Categories (other): English coordinated pairs Disambiguation of English coordinated pairs: 9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7 Disambiguation of 'cookie': 0 0 100 0 0
  4. A kind of ice cream soda with chocolate and vanilla flavors.
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-noun-fOHYDRXz Categories (other): Entries with translation boxes, Terms with Finnish translations, Terms with German translations, Terms with Polish translations Disambiguation of Entries with translation boxes: 3 5 3 26 8 7 2 3 40 4 Disambiguation of Terms with Finnish translations: 4 7 4 22 13 8 4 5 28 7 Disambiguation of Terms with German translations: 4 7 4 24 14 8 4 5 23 7 Disambiguation of Terms with Polish translations: 5 7 4 21 13 8 5 5 26 7
  5. (figurative) Day and night (two very different things). Tags: figuratively
    Sense id: en-black_and_white-en-noun-uQjaZC1a

Inflected forms

Alternative forms

{
  "etymology_text": "The police car sense reflects a traditional livery scheme for such cars.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "black and whites",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "black-and-white",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
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  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w"
        },
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "langcode": "en",
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          "orig": "en:Law enforcement",
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          "_dis": "9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7",
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          "ref": "2006, Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Station […], New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 237:",
          "text": "[T]he news bunny ran up to him, saying, \"Officer, did you have trouble catching up with Batman? Was it an exciting chase?\" The surfer cop struck a semi-heroic pose for the camera and said, \"Weak sauce.\" Then he quickly walked Batman to the black-and-white, where he was put into the backseat.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A police patrol car."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-noun-y31u2AWd",
      "links": [
        [
          "law enforcement",
          "law enforcement"
        ],
        [
          "patrol car",
          "patrol car"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang, law enforcement) A police patrol car."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "source": "Thesaurus:police vehicle",
          "word": "police vehicle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "slang"
      ],
      "topics": [
        "government",
        "law-enforcement"
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "94 4 0 1 1",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "slang: police patrol car",
          "word": "piiska"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 4 0 1 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "slang: police patrol car",
          "tags": [
            "masculine"
          ],
          "word": "radiowóz"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "94 4 0 1 1",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "slang: police patrol car",
          "tags": [
            "feminine"
          ],
          "word": "suka"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "American English",
          "parents": [],
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        },
        {
          "_dis": "9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
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          ],
          "ref": "1992, “A Nigga Witta Gun”, in The Chronic, performed by Dr. Dre, Death Row Records:",
          "text": "Them punk motherfuckers in black and white ain't the only motherfuckers I gots to fight.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The police, a police officer or the clothing they wear."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-noun-3Gll~i5m",
      "links": [
        [
          "police",
          "police"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang, by extension) The police, a police officer or the clothing they wear."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "broadly",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
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        {
          "_dis": "9 8 5 9 11 15 14 13 9 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English coordinated pairs",
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A type of giant cookie (about eight inches in diameter) with icing on the top side: half white, half dark chocolate."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-noun-3e92wFGv",
      "related": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 74 26 0",
          "word": "Black Maria"
        }
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "half-moon"
        }
      ],
      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100 0 0",
          "code": "de",
          "lang": "German",
          "lang_code": "de",
          "sense": "cookie",
          "word": "Amerikaner"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "0 0 100 0 0",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "cookie",
          "tags": [
            "neuter"
          ],
          "word": "wielkie ciastko"
        }
      ]
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          "_dis": "3 5 3 26 8 7 2 3 40 4",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Entries with translation boxes",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 7 4 22 13 8 4 5 28 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Finnish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "4 7 4 24 14 8 4 5 23 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "5 7 4 21 13 8 5 5 26 7",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with Polish translations",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A kind of ice cream soda with chocolate and vanilla flavors."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-noun-fOHYDRXz",
      "links": [
        [
          "ice cream soda",
          "ice cream soda"
        ],
        [
          "chocolate",
          "chocolate"
        ],
        [
          "vanilla",
          "vanilla"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Day and night (two very different things)."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-noun-uQjaZC1a",
      "links": [
        [
          "Day and night",
          "day and night#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Day and night (two very different things)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
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      "audio": "en-au-black and white.ogg",
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      "tags": [
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  "word": "black and white"
}

{
  "etymology_text": "The police car sense reflects a traditional livery scheme for such cars.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more black and white",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most black and white",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "black-and-white",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
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  "head_templates": [
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      "expansion": "black and white (comparative more black and white, superlative most black and white)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "grayscale"
        },
        {
          "word": "greyscale"
        },
        {
          "word": "monochrome"
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          "word": "color"
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          "type": "example"
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      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of art, a photograph or photography, using dots or lines that are either black or white (with no other values involved)."
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      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal, strictly) Of art, a photograph or photography, using dots or lines that are either black or white (with no other values involved)."
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          "type": "example"
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      "glosses": [
        "Of art, a photograph or photography, using shades of grey rather than shades of any other color."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-adj-DfnoBWJR",
      "qualifier": "literal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal, loosely) Of art, a photograph or photography, using shades of grey rather than shades of any other color."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "grayscale"
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        {
          "word": "greyscale"
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        {
          "word": "monochrome"
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      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
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      "translations": [
        {
          "_dis1": "18 35 12 14 22",
          "code": "fi",
          "lang": "Finnish",
          "lang_code": "fi",
          "sense": "clear cut",
          "word": "mustavalkoinen"
        },
        {
          "_dis1": "18 35 12 14 22",
          "code": "pl",
          "lang": "Polish",
          "lang_code": "pl",
          "sense": "clear cut",
          "word": "czarno na białym"
        }
      ]
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        {
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          "ref": "2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):",
          "text": "The second segment is one of the most audacious and ambitious in “Treehouse Of Horror” history, and not just because it’s in black and white. It’s a parody of King Kong that works spectacularly well because Homer isn’t just ape-like and simian on the inside: he’s ape-like and simian on the outside as well, so it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine the rage-filled man-child as a giant ape with serious anger-control issues.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a television or monitor, displaying images in shades of grey rather than color."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-adj-ssGW7XuE",
      "links": [
        [
          "television",
          "television"
        ],
        [
          "monitor",
          "monitor"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        {
          "_dis": "3 5 2 30 13 11 4 5 24 2",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [],
          "source": "w+disamb"
        },
        {
          "_dis": "5 6 3 24 12 12 8 7 18 5",
          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English merisms",
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          "source": "w+disamb"
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        {
          "_dis": "2 3 2 38 6 12 3 2 28 4",
          "kind": "other",
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        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
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          "text": "I wish she weren't always so black and white about every single thing.",
          "type": "example"
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        {
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          "ref": "1999, Cynthia Hendershot, Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films, Popular Press, →ISBN, page 28:",
          "text": "The pseudo-community of enemies in The Day the Earth Stood Still consists of politicians, the military, and businessmen, whereas the pseudo-community of friends, the element that complements the enemies and reinforces the black-and-white morality of paranoia (Cameron, \"Revisited\" 56), is composed of scientists, women, and children.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2008, Linus Torvalds, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140805134937/http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/706950 Re: [stable] Linux 2.6.25.10], LKML; quoted in: Bezpieczeństwo, Jacek Popławski, pl.comp.os.advocacy, Usenet\nSecurity people are often the black-and-white kind of people that I can't stand."
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          "ref": "2011, Sandra Orchard, Deep Cover, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 144:",
          "text": "“It's complicated. Not everything is black-and-white, Ginny. Sometimes, it's just gray.” The disillusionment in Ginny's eyes hurt bone-deep. She was a black-and-white kind of person. Actions were either right or wrong. No room for in-betweens.",
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          "ref": "2011, Aileen Zeitz Collucci, Big Picture Thinking: Using Central Coherence Theory to Support Social Skills : a Book for Students, AAPC Publishing, →ISBN, page 82:",
          "text": "You could say that inflexible thinking is black-and-white thinking and flexible thinking is rainbow thinking. Black-and-white thinkers have difficulty being flexible in their mind and seeing different possibilities and perspectives.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Classifying people, objects or concepts as two polar opposites, especially \"right\" and \"wrong\"; dichotomous and inflexible."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-adj-yi9IZv6f",
      "links": [
        [
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          "classify"
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        [
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        [
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          "polar opposite"
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "Terms with German translations",
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      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: night-and-day"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Easily divided into diametrically opposing categories."
      ],
      "id": "en-black_and_white-en-adj-wbK5QLV-",
      "links": [
        [
          "categories",
          "category"
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      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "night-and-day"
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}
{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English coordinated pairs",
    "English countable nouns",
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    "English lemmas",
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  "etymology_text": "The police car sense reflects a traditional livery scheme for such cars.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "black and whites",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
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    },
    {
      "form": "black-and-white",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
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  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "related": [
    {
      "word": "Black Maria"
    }
  ],
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "American English",
        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations",
        "en:Law enforcement"
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          "ref": "2006, Joseph Wambaugh, Hollywood Station […], New York, N.Y.: Little, Brown and Company, →ISBN, page 237:",
          "text": "[T]he news bunny ran up to him, saying, \"Officer, did you have trouble catching up with Batman? Was it an exciting chase?\" The surfer cop struck a semi-heroic pose for the camera and said, \"Weak sauce.\" Then he quickly walked Batman to the black-and-white, where he was put into the backseat.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A police patrol car."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "law enforcement",
          "law enforcement"
        ],
        [
          "patrol car",
          "patrol car"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang, law enforcement) A police patrol car."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
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          "source": "Thesaurus:police vehicle",
          "word": "police vehicle"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
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        "slang"
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      "topics": [
        "government",
        "law-enforcement"
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        "English slang",
        "English terms with quotations"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              27,
              42
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1992, “A Nigga Witta Gun”, in The Chronic, performed by Dr. Dre, Death Row Records:",
          "text": "Them punk motherfuckers in black and white ain't the only motherfuckers I gots to fight.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "The police, a police officer or the clothing they wear."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "police",
          "police"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(US, slang, by extension) The police, a police officer or the clothing they wear."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "US",
        "broadly",
        "slang"
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A type of giant cookie (about eight inches in diameter) with icing on the top side: half white, half dark chocolate."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "half-moon"
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "A kind of ice cream soda with chocolate and vanilla flavors."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "ice cream soda",
          "ice cream soda"
        ],
        [
          "chocolate",
          "chocolate"
        ],
        [
          "vanilla",
          "vanilla"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "glosses": [
        "Day and night (two very different things)."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Day and night",
          "day and night#Noun"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(figurative) Day and night (two very different things)."
      ],
      "tags": [
        "figuratively"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-black and white.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-au-black_and_white.ogg/En-au-black_and_white.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-au-black_and_white.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "slang: police patrol car",
      "word": "piiska"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "slang: police patrol car",
      "tags": [
        "masculine"
      ],
      "word": "radiowóz"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "slang: police patrol car",
      "tags": [
        "feminine"
      ],
      "word": "suka"
    },
    {
      "code": "de",
      "lang": "German",
      "lang_code": "de",
      "sense": "cookie",
      "word": "Amerikaner"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "cookie",
      "tags": [
        "neuter"
      ],
      "word": "wielkie ciastko"
    }
  ],
  "word": "black and white"
}

{
  "categories": [
    "English adjectives",
    "English coordinated pairs",
    "English countable nouns",
    "English entries with incorrect language header",
    "English lemmas",
    "English merisms",
    "English multiword terms",
    "English nouns",
    "Entries with translation boxes",
    "Pages with 1 entry",
    "Pages with entries",
    "Terms with Finnish translations",
    "Terms with German translations",
    "Terms with Polish translations"
  ],
  "etymology_text": "The police car sense reflects a traditional livery scheme for such cars.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "more black and white",
      "tags": [
        "comparative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "most black and white",
      "tags": [
        "superlative"
      ]
    },
    {
      "form": "black-and-white",
      "tags": [
        "alternative"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "black and white (comparative more black and white, superlative most black and white)",
      "name": "en-adj"
    }
  ],
  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "adj",
  "senses": [
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "grayscale"
        },
        {
          "word": "greyscale"
        },
        {
          "word": "monochrome"
        },
        {
          "word": "color"
        },
        {
          "word": "colour"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              89,
              104
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Using Adobe Photoshop, he opened the images that were grayscale and converted them to be black and white.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of art, a photograph or photography, using dots or lines that are either black or white (with no other values involved)."
      ],
      "qualifier": "literal; strictly; literal; strictly",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal, strictly) Of art, a photograph or photography, using dots or lines that are either black or white (with no other values involved)."
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "color"
        },
        {
          "word": "colour"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              35,
              50
            ]
          ],
          "text": "Their photos from that era are all black and white.",
          "type": "example"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of art, a photograph or photography, using shades of grey rather than shades of any other color."
      ],
      "qualifier": "literal",
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(literal, loosely) Of art, a photograph or photography, using shades of grey rather than shades of any other color."
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "grayscale"
        },
        {
          "word": "greyscale"
        },
        {
          "word": "monochrome"
        }
      ],
      "tags": [
        "broadly"
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations"
      ],
      "coordinate_terms": [
        {
          "word": "color"
        },
        {
          "word": "colour"
        }
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              125,
              140
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2012 April 29, Nathan Rabin, “TV: Review: THE SIMPSONS (CLASSIC): “Treehouse of Horror III” (season 4, episode 5; originally aired 10/29/1992)”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name):",
          "text": "The second segment is one of the most audacious and ambitious in “Treehouse Of Horror” history, and not just because it’s in black and white. It’s a parody of King Kong that works spectacularly well because Homer isn’t just ape-like and simian on the inside: he’s ape-like and simian on the outside as well, so it’s not too much of a stretch to imagine the rage-filled man-child as a giant ape with serious anger-control issues.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Of a television or monitor, displaying images in shades of grey rather than color."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "television",
          "television"
        ],
        [
          "monitor",
          "monitor"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English terms with quotations",
        "English terms with usage examples"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              29,
              44
            ]
          ],
          "text": "I wish she weren't always so black and white about every single thing.",
          "type": "example"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              222,
              237
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "1999, Cynthia Hendershot, Paranoia, the Bomb, and 1950s Science Fiction Films, Popular Press, →ISBN, page 28:",
          "text": "The pseudo-community of enemies in The Day the Earth Stood Still consists of politicians, the military, and businessmen, whereas the pseudo-community of friends, the element that complements the enemies and reinforces the black-and-white morality of paranoia (Cameron, \"Revisited\" 56), is composed of scientists, women, and children.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "text": "2008, Linus Torvalds, [https://web.archive.org/web/20140805134937/http://article.gmane.org/gmane.linux.kernel/706950 Re: [stable] Linux 2.6.25.10], LKML; quoted in: Bezpieczeństwo, Jacek Popławski, pl.comp.os.advocacy, Usenet\nSecurity people are often the black-and-white kind of people that I can't stand."
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              37,
              52
            ],
            [
              151,
              166
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Sandra Orchard, Deep Cover, Harlequin, →ISBN, page 144:",
          "text": "“It's complicated. Not everything is black-and-white, Ginny. Sometimes, it's just gray.” The disillusionment in Ginny's eyes hurt bone-deep. She was a black-and-white kind of person. Actions were either right or wrong. No room for in-betweens.",
          "type": "quotation"
        },
        {
          "bold_text_offsets": [
            [
              42,
              57
            ],
            [
              110,
              125
            ]
          ],
          "ref": "2011, Aileen Zeitz Collucci, Big Picture Thinking: Using Central Coherence Theory to Support Social Skills : a Book for Students, AAPC Publishing, →ISBN, page 82:",
          "text": "You could say that inflexible thinking is black-and-white thinking and flexible thinking is rainbow thinking. Black-and-white thinkers have difficulty being flexible in their mind and seeing different possibilities and perspectives.",
          "type": "quotation"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Classifying people, objects or concepts as two polar opposites, especially \"right\" and \"wrong\"; dichotomous and inflexible."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "Classifying",
          "classify"
        ],
        [
          "people",
          "people"
        ],
        [
          "object",
          "object"
        ],
        [
          "polar opposite",
          "polar opposite"
        ],
        [
          "dichotomous",
          "dichotomous"
        ],
        [
          "inflexible",
          "inflexible"
        ]
      ]
    },
    {
      "categories": [
        "English links with manual fragments"
      ],
      "examples": [
        {
          "text": "Near-synonym: night-and-day"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "Easily divided into diametrically opposing categories."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "categories",
          "category"
        ]
      ],
      "synonyms": [
        {
          "word": "night-and-day"
        }
      ]
    }
  ],
  "sounds": [
    {
      "audio": "en-au-black and white.ogg",
      "mp3_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/transcoded/6/69/En-au-black_and_white.ogg/En-au-black_and_white.ogg.mp3",
      "ogg_url": "https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/69/En-au-black_and_white.ogg",
      "tags": [
        "Australia"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "translations": [
    {
      "code": "fi",
      "lang": "Finnish",
      "lang_code": "fi",
      "sense": "clear cut",
      "word": "mustavalkoinen"
    },
    {
      "code": "pl",
      "lang": "Polish",
      "lang_code": "pl",
      "sense": "clear cut",
      "word": "czarno na białym"
    }
  ],
  "word": "black and white"
}

Download raw JSONL data for black and white meaning in All languages combined (10.0kB)


This page is a part of the kaikki.org machine-readable All languages combined dictionary. This dictionary is based on structured data extracted on 2026-09-06 from the enwiktionary dump dated 2026-09-02 using wiktextract (ccec6f1 and 4deed51). The data shown on this site has been post-processed and various details (e.g., extra categories) removed, some information disambiguated, and additional data merged from other sources. See the raw data download page for the unprocessed wiktextract data.

If you use this data in academic research, please cite Tatu Ylonen: Wiktextract: Wiktionary as Machine-Readable Structured Data, Proceedings of the 13th Conference on Language Resources and Evaluation (LREC), pp. 1317-1325, Marseille, 20-25 June 2022. Linking to the relevant page(s) under https://kaikki.org would also be greatly appreciated.