Meaning & use
orange
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Meanings
nouncountable
A round citrus fruit with a thick skin and sweet, juicy flesh divided into segments.
Grammar: Countable: an orange, three oranges.
Patterns
- a glass of orange juice
- peel an orange
She peeled an orange and shared the segments with her brother.
We bought a bag of oranges at the market.
The tree in the yard produces hundreds of oranges every winter.
nouncountable or uncountable
The color between red and yellow, like that of the fruit.
Grammar: Uncountable for the color in general: some orange; countable for shades: a bright orange.
Patterns
- painted in orange
- a shade of orange
The sky turned a deep orange at sunset.
Orange looks striking against a dark blue wall.
She chose a soft orange for the kitchen cabinets.
adjectivecomparable
Having the color of the fruit, between red and yellow.
Grammar: Used before a noun or after a verb: an orange jacket, the jacket is orange.
Patterns
- an orange something
- bright orange
The workers wore bright orange vests on the road.
The leaves turned orange in October.
He drives a small orange car that is easy to spot.
Word forms
| plural | oranges |
|---|
Common combinations
- orange juice
- I drink a glass of orange juice every morning.
- orange peel
- The cake is flavored with grated orange peel.
- bright orange
- The traffic cones were bright orange.
- orange tree
- An orange tree grows in the courtyard.
- segment of an orange
- He handed her a segment of an orange.
Synonyms and how they differ
- tangerine
- Tangerine is a smaller, easier-to-peel citrus fruit and also names a deeper orange shade.
- amber
- Amber is a yellowish orange that suggests glowing light or traffic signals.
- apricot
- Apricot is a pale, soft orange suited to gentle shades.
- saffron
- Saffron is a deep yellowish orange named after the spice.
Word family
- orangey adjective
- somewhat orange in color or taste
- orangeade noun
- a sweet orange-flavored drink
- orangery noun
- a greenhouse for growing orange trees
- orange blossom noun
- the white flower of the orange tree
Commonly confused: orange or tangerine?
orange vs tangerine
A tangerine is smaller and looser-skinned than an orange, although people sometimes treat them as the same.
Practice
Which sentence uses orange as an adjective?
Choose one answer.
In the third sentence orange describes the cone. In the others it names a fruit or a color as a noun.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “orange”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.