amber light

noun

An amber-coloured traffic light indicating that vehicles should stop unless it is unsafe to do so, approximately equivalent to the yellow light in the US.

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Meanings

nounamber light (plural amber lights)

plural amber lights

  1. UKAn amber-coloured traffic light indicating that vehicles should stop unless it is unsafe to do so, approximately equivalent to the yellow light in the US.
  2. UKidiomaticHesitance to proceed; limited approval or permission to proceed.
  3. USdatedA yellow light.

    [In 1947 Chicago:] Then the changing traffic lights seemed to warn no one but himself: STOP. And so waited prudently, though there was no traffic in sight and the wind so bitter, till the amber light counseled him to look both ways, for enemy and friend alike, before crossing carefully.

    1949, Nelson Algren, The Man with the Golden Arm

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
yellow light
Cite this entry
APA

amber light. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/amber%20light

MLA

“amber light.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/amber%20light. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “amber light,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/amber%20light.

Source: amber light on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.