ivory.

1. Of a pale, warm white resembling tusk ivory.

2. The hard dentine forming the tusks of animals such as elephants.

3. Carved or worked ivory objects, also extended colloquially to piano keys.

Use it for

Words that belong together

• ivory fabric
• ivory shade

On the page

The ivory paper had yellowed at its edges.

Usage notes

Primary category: sensory / description. Forms: Material and color noun uses normally uncountable; plural ivories for carved objects or, colloquially, piano keys. Color adjective normally non-gradable. Legacy lexical fields mirror sense 1 only. Use numbered sense fields for all meanings. Established modern English lexical item. No separate regional spelling or grammatical inflection entry. Writing functions: description. Commonness: moderately common.