purple

/ˈpʌrpəl/

/ˈpʌpəl/

Other forms: purples; purpling; purpled; purply; purpler; purplest

Purple is a shade that's a mixture of red and blue. If you are eating a grape Popsicle, get ready to spend a while with a purple tongue and lips.

The Greek root of purple is porphyra, which was the name of the shellfish from which purple dye was made. Long ago, only royalty could wear — and afford the dye for — purple clothing. If the setting sun purples the sky, the light is making the horizon appear to be colored purple, just as a bruise purples your skin. Purple prose is a literary term that refers to overly flowery or exaggerated writing.

Definitions of purple

1. adjective

   of a color intermediate between red and blue
   synonyms: purplish, violet

   chromatic

   being, having, or characterized by hue
2. noun

   a purple color or pigment
   synonyms: purpleness

   types:

   lavender

   a pale purple color

   mauve

   a moderate purple

   reddish purple, royal purple

   a shade of purple tinged with red

   reddish blue, violet

   a variable color that lies beyond blue in the spectrum

   Tyrian purple

   a vivid purplish-red color

   indigo

   a blue-violet color

   type of:

   chromatic color, chromatic colour, spectral color, spectral colour

   a color that has hue
3. verb

   become purple
   type of:

   color, colour, discolor, discolour

   change color, often in an undesired manner
4. verb

   color purple
   synonyms: empurple, purpurate

   type of:

   color, color in, colorise, colorize, colour, colour in, colourise, colourize

   add color to
5. adjective

   belonging to or befitting a supreme ruler
   “purple tyrant”

   synonyms: imperial, majestic, regal, royal

   noble

   of or belonging to or constituting the hereditary aristocracy especially as derived from feudal times
6. adjective

   excessively elaborate or showily expressed
   “many purple passages”

   synonyms: empurpled, over-embellished

   rhetorical

   given to rhetoric, emphasizing style at the expense of thought
7. noun

   of imperial status
   “he was born to the purple”

   type of:

   nobility, noblesse

   the state of being of noble birth