blue
noun
the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nanometers.
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blue
American
[bloo]
/ blu /
noun
-
blues
plural
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the pure color of a clear sky; the primary color between green and violet in the visible spectrum, an effect of light with a wavelength between 450 and 500 nanometers.
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something having a blue color.
Place the blue next to the red.
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a person who wears blue or is a member of a group characterized by some blue symbol.
Tomorrow the blues will play the browns.
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(often initial capital letter) a member of the Union army in the American Civil War or the army itself.
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any of several blue-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.
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Printing. blueline.
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the blue,
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the sky.
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the sea.
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the remote distance.
They've vanished into the blue somewhere.
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adjective
bluer,
bluest
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of the color of blue.
a blue tie.
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(initial capital letter) of or relating to the Union army in the American Civil War.
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(of the skin) discolored by cold, contusion, fear, or vascular collapse.
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depressed in spirits; dejected; melancholy.
She felt blue about not being chosen for the team.
- Synonyms:
- downcast, glum, sad, dispirited, doleful, morose, unhappy, despondent
- Antonyms:
- happy
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holding or offering little hope; dismal; bleak.
a blue outlook.
- Synonyms:
- gloomy
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characterized by or stemming from rigid morals or religion.
statutes that were blue and unrealistic.
- Synonyms:
- strait-laced, puritanical, righteous
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marked by blasphemy.
The air was blue with oaths.
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(of an animal's pelage) grayish-blue.
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indecent; somewhat obscene; risqué.
a blue joke or film.
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Politics.
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relating to, supporting, or belonging to the Democratic Party in the United States; Democratic.
The county effectively turned blue, with all 38 district judges elected being Democrats.
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British. politically conservative.
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verb (used with object)
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blues,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blued,
past participle, past
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bluing,
present participle
-
blueing
present participle
-
to make blue; dye a blue color.
-
to tinge with bluing.
Don't blue your clothes till the second rinse.
verb (used without object)
-
blues,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blued,
past participle, past
-
bluing,
present participle
-
blueing
present participle
idioms
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out of the blue, suddenly and unexpectedly.
The inheritance came out of the blue as a stroke of good fortune.
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blue in the face, exhausted and speechless, as from excessive anger, physical strain, etc..
I reminded him about it till I was blue in the face.
blue
1
British
/ bluː /
noun
-
any of a group of colours, such as that of a clear unclouded sky, that have wavelengths in the range 490–445 nanometres. Blue is the complementary colour of yellow and with red and green forms a set of primary colours
-
a dye or pigment of any of these colours
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blue cloth or clothing
dressed in blue
-
-
a sportsperson who represents or has represented Oxford or Cambridge University and has the right to wear the university colour (dark blue for Oxford, light blue for Cambridge)
an Oxford blue
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the honour of so representing one's university
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an informal name for Tory
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any of numerous small blue-winged butterflies of the genera Lampides, Polyommatus , etc: family Lycaenidae
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archaic short for bluestocking
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slang a policeman
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archery a blue ring on a target, between the red and the black, scoring five points
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a blue ball in snooker, etc
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another name for blueing
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slang an argument or fight
he had a blue with a taxi driver
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Also: bluey. slang a court summons, esp for a traffic offence
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informal a mistake; error
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apparently from nowhere; unexpectedly
the opportunity came out of the blue
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into the unknown or the far distance
adjective
-
of the colour blue
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(of the flesh) having a purple tinge, as from cold or contusion
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depressed, moody, or unhappy
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dismal or depressing
a blue day
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indecent, titillating, or pornographic
blue films
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bluish in colour or having parts or marks that are bluish
a blue fox
a blue whale
-
rare aristocratic; noble; patrician See blue blood
a blue family
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relating to, supporting, or representing the Democratic Party Compare red 1
verb
-
to make, dye, or become blue
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(tr) to treat (laundry) with blueing
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slang (tr) to spend extravagantly or wastefully; squander
Blue
2
British
/ bluː /
noun
blue
More Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
-
bluesimple
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bluessimple
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have bluedperfect
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has bluedperfect
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am blueingprogressive
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am bluingprogressive
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are blueingprogressive
-
are bluingprogressive
-
is blueingprogressive
-
is bluingprogressive
-
have been blueingperfect progressive
-
have been bluingperfect progressive
-
has been blueingperfect progressive
-
has been bluingperfect progressive
Past
-
bluedsimple
-
had bluedperfect
-
was blueingprogressive
-
was bluingprogressive
-
were blueingprogressive
-
were bluingprogressive
-
had been blueingperfect progressive
-
had been bluingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of blue
First recorded in 1250–1300; Middle English blewe, from Anglo-French blew, bl(i)u, bl(i)ef “blue, livid, discolored,” Old French blo, blau ( French bleu ), from unattested Germanic blǣwaz; compare Old English blǣwen, contraction of blǣhǣwen “deep blue, perse,” Old Frisian blāw, Middle Dutch blā(u), Old High German blāo ( German blau ), Old Norse blār
Explanation
Among other things, blue is a color and a dreary mood. If the blue sky and ocean have turned gray and stormy, you might be blue because your day at the beach is ruined. Whether it's a primary color or a saddened mood, blue is used often as an adjective for people and things. Blue is a mix of green and purple shades, and it's the favorite color of many. The color blue might bring thoughts of first-place blue ribbons or police officers in blue uniforms, and it colors many flags of the world. Blue is everywhere, but there isn't a lot of blue food unless it's colored with dye. Even blueberries are mostly purple.
Vocabulary lists containing blue
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The charity is built around what is known as "green and blue health", which encourages people to use natural environments such as forests, beaches and the sea to improve their health.
From BBC ● Nov. 1, 2026
These are commonly described as blue, green, and red cones.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 31, 2026
TV news versions of the electoral map have become a living tool for on-air analysts since debuting in 1976, when red represented Democrat and blue meant Republican.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 31, 2026
That ceasefire has been a "breath of fresh air", said the 38-year-old father with piercing blue eyes.
From Barron's ● Oct. 30, 2026
It was of fur, with a blue satin ribbon for under the chin.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
During the height of the frenzy over space tourism, Branson and Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos, the founder of the Blue Origin rocket company, competed to see who could reach space first.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 29, 2026
The Ford Blue segment, covering gas and hybrid vehicles, reported a 3% decline in revenue to $27.1 billion.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 28, 2026
In February, Amazon pulled Blue Jay, a multiarm system it had unveiled four months earlier, from its operations.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 28, 2026
Instead four astronauts will fly to low Earth orbit where they will dock with two prototype lunar landers, one made by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin company and the other by Elon Musk's SpaceX.
From BBC ● Oct. 27, 2026
“Grace Community Church, the Blue Door restaurant, and home.”
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
The prehistory of rock ‘n’ roll is full of names who might have become stars if they were gifted with his baby blues or discovered by a relentless schemer on the level Col.
From Salon ● Oct. 30, 2026
Side 2 launches with “Sunspot Baby,” a honky-tonk blues centered on a duplicitous girlfriend who bails on the protagonist, leaving him with a maxed-out credit card.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 29, 2026
Residents in this rural Victorian town are used to catering to tourists passing through on their way to regional wineries, or music lovers visiting its annual jazz and blues festival.
From BBC ● Oct. 21, 2026
Instead of singing the blues, Clarkson shopped around for another Nashville-area residence.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 19, 2026
In all jazz, and especially in the blues, there is something tart and ironic, authoritative and double-edged.
From "The Fire Next Time" by James Baldwin
One entry describes begonia as “a deep pink that is bluer, lighter, and stronger than average coral . . . and bluer and stronger than sweet william—called also gaiety.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 27, 2026
Firstly, they are two to three times as bright as traditional halogens, and their "colour temperature" is bluer and whiter, which mimics natural daylight.
From BBC ● Feb. 18, 2026
Not everyone supports the flight to bluer skies.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 19, 2024
When the star moves toward a telescope, its visible light turns slightly bluer; when it moves away from us, the light shifts slightly redder.
From Science Daily ● May 23, 2024
If there is somebody with bluer eyes than mine, then maybe there is somebody with the bluest eyes.
From "The Bluest Eye" by Toni Morrison
Once the bluest of blue-chip stocks, IBM’s biggest-ever decline on Tuesday following a profit warning did little to rattle investors focused on a dip in inflation and on AI winners.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 15, 2026
His research is the bluest of blue-sky: he uses quantum computers to predict how sub-atomic particles behave.
From BBC ● Mar. 17, 2026
GameStop is the bluest of blue-chip meme stocks, the Apple or Nvidia of its little world.
From Slate ● May 13, 2024
“Anybody in our profession looks at the University of Kentucky in basketball and said, ‘that is the bluest of blue.’
From Seattle Times ● Apr. 10, 2024
Reaching from the cliff face to the far horizon is the bluest, flattest, sweetest sight I’ve ever seen.
From "Without Refuge" by Jane Mitchell
As we talked, the greens blued into ultramarine or yellowed into chartreuse.
From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2022
Facebook is the classic example of how the individual investor can get screwed, blued and tattooed.
From Forbes ● Sep. 1, 2012
The afternoon air thickened and blued with gasoline fumes.
From Time Magazine Archive
Winchester Select Midnight The blued receiver carries extensive engraving, with gold-accented game birds on both sides and the bottom.
From Time Magazine Archive
My Austrian sniper’s rifle with its blued octagon barrel and the lovely dark walnut, cheek-fitted, schutzen stock, hung over the two beds.
From "A Farewell To Arms" by Ernest Hemingway
Wash blue, or blueing, is a laundry product with iron powder and just a hint of blue dye.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2021
The Glen Alden Coal Co. of Buffalo and Rochester, N. Y., has made the last wash a blueing process.
From Time Magazine Archive
This circumstance has led Sociologists Peter and Brigitte Berger to suggest that if what Charles Reich calls "the greening of America" goes on apace, it may shade into a "blueing of America."
From Time Magazine Archive
We didn’t think we could use any blueing, but we hated to disappoint the little things.
From Letters on an Elk Hunt by Elinore Pruitt Stewart
There were violets, some white, some yellow and some purple, with others blue, like the ones Uncle Wiggily used to make blueing water for Nurse Jane's clothes.
From Uncle Wiggily in the Woods by Howard Roger Garis
The colour actually comes from a process that starts with boiling water and grinding laundry bluing cubes, which are usually used to wash white clothes.
From BBC ● Feb. 11, 2024
Although Castle made works with color, utilizing a variety of materials that include laundry bluing, watercolor, crayon and even colored ink leached from magazine pages, these are black soot-and-spit.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 23, 2023
Some on Reddit fixed this by sanding theirs down to take the shine off of the finish, and another recommended using an acrylic topcoat and another chemical bluing.
From The Verge ● Mar. 9, 2022
When a congressional seat opened up in a bluing stretch of Phoenix’s eastern suburbs, Sinema ran and won.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 6, 2021
High above the library’s stained-glass windows and soaring neo-Gothic spires, screeching seagulls whirled in white loops against the slowly bluing sky.
From "The Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Berlin Olympics" by Daniel James Brown
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