gray man
nounEtymology From gray (“bland, indistinct”) + man (“person”).
1
An average, forgettable man who does not draw attention or stand out in a crowd.
- He was said to be a perfect match for his own description of the ideal intelligence officer, "the traditional gray man, so inconspicuous that he can never catch a waiter's eye in a restaurant."1996, "Colby's Body Found Along River Shore", Washington Post, Todd Shields, ISSN 0190-8286
- 2000, "Cassidy's Run: The Secret Spy War Over Nerve Gas", David Wise, pg.13-3, →ISBN But perhaps that is why he was chosen for his role — a gray man who blended almost invisibly into the background.
4 more examples
- "Gray man" is an espionage term describing the "perfect" covert operator.2003, Encyclopedia of the Central Intelligence Agency, W. Thomas Smith, →ISBN, page 113:
- “Your goal is to be the gray man,” says Clinton Emerson, a former Navy SEAL and trainer for the CIA and NSA who now works at the special-ops site SOFREP.2012, "Spycraft for Nerds: Brainy Tips for Winning at Life", Wired Magazine, Mary H.K. Choi, ISSN 1059-1028
- The Gray Man is in between. He is neither blinged-out nor loud, but also not a head-down, foot-shuffling sheep.2015, "Becoming The ‘Gray Man’: 10 Ways to Blend In and Survive", Ballistic Magazine, Len Waldron, ISSN 2573-0290, archived at Wayback Machine on 10 May 2019
- A gray man in a gray suit slips through the shadows in a black-and-white world carrying encrypted secrets.2016, “‘Bridge of Spies’: The True Story is Even Stranger Than Fiction”, in ProPublica:
- Synonyms
- little gray man, little grey man
- Related terms
- beige, little man, low profile