Word.ws English Dictionary

true colours

true colours noun: the real character, belief or intent of a person or group who present a dishonest picture of their nature to the world.

Noun

true colours pl (plural only)

  1. (UK, plural, plural-only) The real character, belief or intent of a person or group who present a dishonest picture of their nature to the world.
    • The organisation was officially concerned with economic development, but after the memo was leaked people began to see them in their true colours.
    • But I see your true colors / Shining through / I see your true colors / And that's why I love you / So don't be afraid to let them show1986, Billy Steinberg, Tom Kelly, “True Colors”, performed by Cyndi Lauper
    Synonyms:
    true stripes

Synonyms of true colours

Forms of true colours

alternative formtrue colors

Origin of true colours

See show one's true colors.

Questions about true colours

What does true colours mean?
True colours means the real character, belief or intent of a person or group who present a dishonest picture of their nature to the world.
What part of speech is true colours?
True colours is a noun.

Words near true colours in the dictionary

  1. true civets
  2. true cobra
  3. true cobras
  4. true color
  5. true colors
  6. true colours
  7. true copy
  8. true crab
  9. true crabs
  10. true crime
  11. true crimes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: true colours (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “true colours.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/true_colours. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.