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

Would Jury Duty have become such a hit, and Gladden such a hero, had its producers picked a woman or a person of color or a member of the LGBTQ community (let alone a vocal political partisan) as a star? —Judy Berman, TIME, 22 Jan. 2025

Takano, the first out gay person of color elected to Congress and the first openly LGBTQ lawmaker of Asian descent, will replace Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) as Equality Caucus chair. —Brooke Migdon, The Hill, 3 Jan. 2025

Lynch, 36, is both the first woman and person of color to hold the title of 007. —airmail.news, 9 Nov. 2024

Keturah Herron — first out LGBTQ+ person of color elected to Kentucky State Senate After becoming the first out LGBTQ+ member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, Keturah Herron was just elected as the first out LGBTQ+ person of color elected to the Kentucky State Senate. —James Factora, Them, 6 Nov. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1778, in the meaning defined above