Related Searches
Nearby Words

violet

 [vahy-uh-lit]   Origin

vi·o·let

   [vahy-uh-lit]
noun
1.
any chiefly low, stemless or leafy-stemmed plant of the genus Viola, having purple, blue, yellow, white, or variegated flowers. Compare violet family.
2.
any such plant except the pansy and the viola.
3.
the flower of any native, wild species of violet, as distinguished from the pansy: the state flower of Illinois, New Jersey, and Rhode Island.
4.
any of various similar plants of other genera.
5.
reddish-blue, a color at the opposite end of the visible spectrum from red, an effect of light with a wavelength between 400 and 450 nm.
adjective
6.
of the color violet; reddish-blue: violet hats.

:10

:09

:08

:07

:06

:05

:04

:03

:02

:01

Violet is always a great word to know.
So is interrobang. Does it mean:
a printed punctuation mark (‽), available only in some typefaces, designed to combine the question mark (?) and the exclamation point (!), indicating a mixture of query and interjection, as after a rhetorical question.
the offspring of a zebra and a donkey.
LEARN MORE UNUSUAL WORDS WITH WORD DYNAMO...
Origin:
1300–50; Middle English < Old French violete, equivalent to viole (< Latin viola violet) + -ete -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged

Vi·o·let

   [vahy-uh-lit]
noun
a female given name.
Also, Vi·o·lette  [vahy-uh-let, vahy-uh-lit] , Vi·o·let·ta  [vahy-uh-let-uh] .
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
Cite This Source Link To violet
Collins
World English Dictionary
violet (ˈvaɪəlɪt)
 
—n
1.  any of various temperate perennial herbaceous plants of the violaceous genus Viola, such as V. odorata (sweet (or garden) violet), typically having mauve or bluish flowers with irregular showy petals
2.  any other plant of the genus Viola, such as the wild pansy
3.  any of various similar but unrelated plants, such as the African violet
4.  a.  any of a group of colours that vary in saturation but have the same purplish-blue hue. They lie at one end of the visible spectrum, next to blue; approximate wavelength range 445--390 nanometres
 b.  (as adjective): a violet dress
5.  a dye or pigment of or producing these colours
6.  violet clothing: dressed in violet
7.  informal shrinking violet a shy person
 
[C14: from Old French violete a little violet, from viole, from Latin viola violet]
 
'violet-like
 
—adj

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
Cite This Source
Etymonline
Word Origin & History

violet
early 14c., small plant with purplish-blue flowers, from O.Fr. violette, dim. of viole "violet," from L. viola, cognate with Gk. ion (see iodine), probably from a pre-I.E. Mediterranean language. The color sense (late 14c.) developed from the flower.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Medical Dictionary

violet vi·o·let (vī'ə-lĭt)
n.

  1. The hue of the short-wave end of the visible spectrum, evoked in the human observer by radiant energy with wavelengths of approximately 380 to 420 nanometers.

  2. Any of a group of colors, reddish-blue in hue, that may vary in lightness and saturation.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Cite This Source
American Heritage
Idioms & Phrases

violet

see shrinking violet.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
Cite This Source
Idioms & Phrases
shrinking violet
MORE
Images for violet
Partners:WordBloglinesCitysearchThe Daily BeastAsk AnswersAsk KidsLife123SendoriThesaurus
Dictionary.com, LLC. Copyright © 2012. All rights reserved.
About Privacy Policy Terms of Use API Careers Advertise with Us Contact Us Help
  • Please Login or Sign Up to use the Recent Searches feature
FAVORITES
RECENT
How many words do you know? FIND OUT