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View synonyms for purple
purple
[ pur-puhl ]
noun
- any color having components of both red and blue, such as lavender, especially one deep in tone.
- cloth or clothing of this hue, especially as formerly worn distinctively by persons of imperial, royal, or other high rank.
- the rank or office of a cardinal.
- the office of a bishop.
- imperial, regal, or princely rank or position.
- deep red; crimson.
- any of several nymphalid butterflies, as Basilarchia astyanax red-spotted purple, having blackish wings spotted with red, or Basilarchia arthemis banded purple, or white admiral, having brown wings banded with white.
adjective
, pur·pler, pur·plest.
- of the color purple.
- imperial, regal, or princely.
- brilliant or showy.
- full of exaggerated literary devices and effects; marked by excessively ornate rhetoric:
a purple passage in a novel.
- profane or shocking, as language.
- relating to or noting political or ideological diversity:
purple politics; ideologically purple areas of the country.
verb (used with or without object)
, pur·pled, pur·pling.
- to make or become purple.
purple
/ ˈpɜːpəl /
noun
- any of various colours with a hue lying between red and blue and often highly saturated; a nonspectral colour
- a dye or pigment producing such a colour
- cloth of this colour, often used to symbolize royalty or nobility
- the purplehigh rank; nobility
- the official robe of a cardinal
- the rank, office, or authority of a cardinal as signified by this
- the purplebishops collectively
adjective
- of the colour purple
- (of writing) excessively elaborate or full of imagery
purple prose
- noble or royal
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Derived Forms
- ˈpurpleness, noun
- ˈpurplish, adjective
- ˈpurply, adjective
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Other Words From
- purple·ness noun
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Word History and Origins
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Word History and Origins
Origin of purple1
Old English, from Latin purpura purple dye, from Greek porphura the purple fish ( Murex )
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Idioms and Phrases
Idioms
- born in / to the purple, of royal or exalted birth:
Those born to the purple are destined to live in the public eye.
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
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