chrome

1 of 3

noun

1
a
b
: a chromium pigment
2
: something plated with an alloy of chromium

chrome

2 of 3

verb

chromed; chroming

transitive verb

1
: to treat with a compound of chromium (as in dyeing)
2

-chrome

3 of 3

noun combining form or adjective combining form

ˌkrōm
1
: colored thing
heliochrome
2
: coloring matter
urochrome

Examples of chrome in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Noun
The 387-foot-long vessel, which comes with a helipad and a $30 million companion boat, was seen docked this week at Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with its unique chrome finish reflecting in the sun. Martha Ross, The Mercury News, 21 Mar. 2024 Wrought Studio Small Silver Ceramic Cylinder Planter Even our green thumbs can get it on the chrome decor action. Wendy Vazquez, Better Homes & Gardens, 3 Mar. 2024 The overall profile is much the same as the Arteon, but there’s significantly less chrome and fewer details on the ID.7. Tim Stevens, The Verge, 1 Mar. 2024 Fox's nails were shaped into a classic long almond and painted with a molten metallic silver and chrome combo. Kara Nesvig, Allure, 19 Feb. 2024 Created by nail artist, Anouska Anastasia, Pugh’s press-on manicure featured a bronze chrome base and celestial gel swirls–snake-like in form–that were rubbed with silver chrome to form a metal finish. Hannah Coates, Vogue, 16 Feb. 2024 Now, the club’s chrome soccer ball is starting its yearlong, 18-city tour around the county on Saturday. Carlos Rico, San Diego Union-Tribune, 25 Jan. 2024 Her chrome design, styled with Jimmy Choo shoes, also featured a knotted asymmetrical halter-neckline and floor-sweeping cape. Michelle Lee, Peoplemag, 11 Mar. 2024 Most impressively, her last look — a chrome suit of armor from Mugler’s Fall Winter 1995 couture collection — reportedly generated $13.3 million in media exposure after wearing the piece to the Dune: Part Two premiere in London. Lindzi Scharf, The Hollywood Reporter, 7 Mar. 2024
Verb
The colors: officially chrome and azul, but with a logo that also includes splashes of yellow, orange and red that allows for multiple uniform combinations in the modern era where clubs have several different jerseys. Mark Zeigler, San Diego Union-Tribune, 20 Oct. 2023 The car, which appeared in episode seven of The Last Dance, is finished in metallic dark blue and features custom exterior work, including a wide-body kit and chrome monobloc wheels, by Lorinser. Bryan Hood, Robb Report, 25 July 2023 In 1976, West magazine commissioned her to construct a facsimile home from junked car parts, replete with a hood roof and chrome windows made of fenders. Evan Moffitt, New York Times, 30 June 2023 In the first couple of films (his five-film run suffered from wildly diminishing returns), there was a certain sensory satisfaction in all that was shiny and chrome, the clicks and whirs of metallic pieces sliding into place with an almost ASMR-like tingle. Katie Walsh, Los Angeles Times, 5 June 2023 Finishes Touchless kitchen faucets come in a variety of finishes, ranging from stainless steel to chrome to matte black to champagne bronze. Rachel Simon, Better Homes & Gardens, 26 May 2023 From sparkly cowboy hats to chrome stomping boots, here’s your complete guide to what to wear to Beyoncé's Renaissance World Tour based off of Beyoncé's exact tour outfits. Seventeen, 13 May 2023 Car detailers, however, would have to quit using it by 2027, even though chroming cars accounts for 0.4% of all hexavalent chromium emissions in the state. Gustavo Arellano, Los Angeles Times, 9 May 2023 First-floor powder rooms have pedestal sinks and chrome faucets. Benjamin C Tankersley, Washington Post, 29 Mar. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'chrome.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

Noun

borrowed from French chrôme, borrowed from Greek chrôma "color" — more at -chrome

Note: Name introduced by the French chemist Louis Nicolas Vauquelin (1763-1829) in "Du plomb rouge de Sibérie, et expériences sur le nouveau métal qu'il contient," Journal des mines, Messidor, An V [vol. 6, June-July, 1797], pp. 737-60. Vauquelin notes that a word meaning "color"—originally suggested to him by the mineralogist René-Just Haüy—is fitting for the metal not because it has a distinctive color itself, but because the combinations into which it enters with oxygen (as a green oxide and red acid) are remarkable for their colors.

Verb

derivative of chrome entry 1

Noun combining form or adjective combining form

borrowed from Greek -chrōmos "having a color (of the kind specified by the initial element)," adjective derivative of chrōmat-, chrôma "skin, complexion, color," from chrō- (the base of an s-stem *chrowos-, whence chrṓs "surface of the body, skin, flesh, complexion, color," of obscure origin) + -ma, resultative noun suffix

Note: The form *chrowos- is reconstructed on the basis of Mycenaean a-ko-ro-we-e "without spots" (or "of one color"). While chrṓs can be contracted directly from a nominative *chrowṓs, the Homeric accusative chróa, genitive chroós assume *chrowós-a, *chrowos-ós, with hyphaeresis of the second vowel of the stem.

First Known Use

Noun

1800, in the meaning defined at sense 1a

Verb

1876, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Time Traveler
The first known use of chrome was in 1800

Dictionary Entries Near chrome

Cite this Entry

“Chrome.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/chrome. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

chrome

noun
ˈkrōm
1
a
b
: a chromium pigment
2
: something plated with an alloy of chromium

Medical Definition

chrome

noun
1
2
: a chromium pigment

More from Merriam-Webster on chrome

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