LILY-WHITE Definition & Meaning

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lily-white

[ adjective lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt; noun lil-ee-hwahyt, -wahyt ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

adjective

white as a lily:
soft lily-white skin.
pure; untouched by corruption or imperfection; above reproach:
He tries to pass himself off as some sort of lily-white saint, but he's not.
designating or pertaining to any faction, organization, or group opposing the inclusion of Black people, especially in political or social life.
Synonyms: , ,

noun

a member of a lily-white organization, especially a member of a former faction of the Republican Party in the South opposed to the inclusion of African Americans in the party or in political life in general. Compare black and tan ( def 3 ).

lily-white

adjective

of a pure white
lily-white skin
informal.
pure; irreproachable
informal.
1. discriminating against Black people
  a lily-white club
2. racially segregated

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�y��vlog History and Origins

Origin of lily-white¹

First recorded in 1275–1325; Middle English lylie-whyt

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Example Sentences

Examples have not been reviewed.

He spins these as race-neutral, but it isn't a coincidence that the alt-right circles obsessed with raising birth rates tend to be lily-white.

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There was something “rich and relevant,” Mr. Sanford said, “that you have this Black judge sentencing this guy — this lily-white guy — to life, whose family has been king for more than 100 years.”

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The lily-white patriarchal hierarchy of the British upper class that Meghan has sprung Harry from.

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For many Black and Latino New Haveners, that seemed to be the point; according to a local joke, the initials L.W.T. stood for “lily-white theater.”

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Was I buying into the lily-white version of motherhood or disrupting the feed with my presence?

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