Meanings
- uncountableA bright green colour.
They were on their way to a clambake, a Friday night with friends at the marina. Wearing a kelly green tennis dress with white espadrilles, she was carrying a sheet cake resembling a flag, blueberries and strawberries as the stars and stripes arranged across a layer of whipped cream.
2022, Ling Ma, “Tomorrow”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN
Synonyms & antonyms
Origin
American coinage, in reference to the Irish surname Kelly and the association of Ireland with the color green.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
kelly green. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kelly%20green
“kelly green.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kelly%20green. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kelly green,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kelly%20green.
Source: kelly green on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.