white man

noun

A man of European descent or having that appearance.

“The arrival of the white man brought new things and new ideas, but also new wars and new diseases.”

Meanings

white man1

nounwhite man (plural white men)

plural white men · alternative White man · alternative White Man

  1. A man of European descent or having that appearance.
    1 more example

    Therefore he whacked the old n***** mercilessly, while a big crowd of his people watched him, thunderstruck, till some man, - I was told the chief's son, - in desperation at hearing the old chap yell, made a tentative jab with a spear at the white man - and of course it went quite easy between the shoulder-blades.

    1899 February, Joseph Conrad, “The Heart of Darkness”, in Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine, volume CLXV, number M, New York, N.Y.: The Leonard Scott Publishing Company, […], →OCLC, part I, page 198

    Synonyms: abelungu, ang moh, Angrez, balanda, béké, bule, cac, Caucasian

  2. White people collectively; white culture.

    The arrival of the white man brought new things and new ideas, but also new wars and new diseases.

    4 more examples

    Savages are commonly supposed to be the slaves of custom to a far greater degree than the White Man, who by contrast appears as the child of reason.

    1927, A. M. Hocart, Are Savages Custom-Bound?, in Man, vol. 27

    […] very little attempt seems to have been made so far to deal with the whole problem of the African in contact with white man’s law, […]

    1933, G. St. J. Orde Browne, British Justice and the African, in the Journal of the Royal African Society, vol. 32, no. 127

    Island girl, What you wanting with the white man's world? Island girl, Black boy want you in his island world.

    1975, “Island Girl”, in Bernie Taupin (lyrics), Rock of the Westies, performed by Elton John

    Well the Aboriginals are trying to step forward a little but in a lot of ways the white man is still keeping them down, in a politeful sort of way.

    1992, Bruce Shaw, When the Dust Come in Between, page 149
  3. Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see white, man.

    The white men are always put on that side of the board which commences by row 1, and the black men are placed opposite.

    1883, Henry Richter, Chess Simplified!, page 4
    1 more example

    We will suppose that you are the player of the white men, and that your opponent[,] the player of the black men[,] is sitting opposite to you, ready for battle.

    1908, The Chess Amateur, volume 2, page 39

White man2

nounWhite man (plural White men)

plural White men

  1. Alternative letter-case form of white man.

White Man3

nounWhite Man (uncountable)
  1. uncountableAlternative letter-case form of white man (collectively)

Synonyms & antonyms

Translations

Finnish valkoinen mies
  • valkoinen mieswhites collectively
Cite this entry
APA

white man. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20man

MLA

“white man.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20man. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “white man,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/white%20man.

Source: white man on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.