What does "hoar" mean?
A white or greyish-white colour.
Hoar
/hɔː/ adj, name, noun, verb
adj, name, noun, verb ·Moderate ·High school level
Meaning at a glance
- Primary sense: A white or greyish-white colour.
- Grammar: hoar is listed as adj, name, noun, verb.
- Nearest alternatives: frost, hoarfrost, rime, advanced.
- Useful contrasts: contemporary, contemporary usage, current usage.
- Usage evidence: Senator Hoar spoke strongly against the treaty.
How to use "hoar"
- Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
- Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "hoar" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
- Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.
Meaning check
- Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
- Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
- Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
- Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?
Source and review context
This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "hoar" in a final draft.
If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.
Before you rely on this definition
Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "hoar" as the right word for your sentence.
If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "hoar" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.
Compare nearby meanings
- Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
- Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
- Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
- Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.
Definition decision workflow
1. Identify the role
Check whether "hoar" is acting as adj, name, noun, verb in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.
2. Test the nearest option
Compare it with "frost" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.
3. Confirm with context
Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.
Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.
Final meaning check
Before publishing a sentence with "hoar", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.
When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.
Definitions
Noun
- 1 A white or greyish-white colour.
- 2 ice crystals forming a white deposit (especially on objects outside) wordnet
- 3 Hoariness; antiquity.
"His grants are engrafted on the public law of Europe, covered with the awful hoar of innumerable ages."
Verb
- 1 To become mouldy or musty. intransitive, obsolete
"But a hare that is hoar / Is too much for a score / When it hoars ere it be spent."
Adjective
- 1 Of a white or greyish-white colour. not-comparable
"hoar waters"
- 2 Hoarily bearded. not-comparable, poetic
"And lo, where rapt in beauty's heavenly dream Hoar Plato walks his olived Academe."
- 3 Musty; mouldy; stale. not-comparable, obsolete
"But a hare that is hoar / Is too much for a score / When it hoars ere it be spent."
- 4 Figuratively, grey-haired with age. archaic, not-comparable
"Be Thou with me until Old-age, and even to hoar hairs do Thou carrie me. P. Isa. 46.4."
Adjective
- 1 showing characteristics of age, especially having grey or white hair wordnet
Proper Noun
- 1 A surname.
Synonyms
All synonymsAntonyms
Example
"Senator Hoar spoke strongly against the treaty."
Common questions
What is a synonym for "hoar"?
Common synonyms include: frost, hoarfrost, rime, advanced, advanced in life, advanced in years.
How do you use "hoar" in a sentence?
Senator Hoar spoke strongly against the treaty.
How do you pronounce "hoar"?
Pronounced /hɔː/.
Etymology
Etymology 1
From Middle English hor, hore, from Old English hār (“hoar, hoary, grey, old”), from Proto-West Germanic *hair, from Proto-Germanic *hairaz (“grey”), from Proto-Indo-European *(s)ḱeh₃- (“grey, dark”). Cognate with German hehr (“noble, sublime”), Herr (“sir, gentleman”), Scottish Gaelic ciar (“dusky”), and Russian се́рый (séryj, “grey”).
Etymology 2
* As an English surname, from the adjective hoar (“greyish white”). * Also as an English surname, from Ore in Sussex, or its source Old English ōra (“edge, brink”). Compare Middle English Hore.