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.
blue
American
[bloo]
/ blu /
noun
-
blues
plural
-
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.
-
something having a blue color.
Place the blue next to the red.
-
a person who wears blue or is a member of a group characterized by some blue symbol.
Tomorrow the blues will play the browns.
-
(often initial capital letter) a member of the Union army in the American Civil War or the army itself.
-
any of several blue-winged butterflies of the family Lycaenidae.
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Printing. blueline.
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the blue,
-
the sky.
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the sea.
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the remote distance.
They've vanished into the blue somewhere.
-
adjective
bluer,
bluest
-
of the color of blue.
a blue tie.
-
(initial capital letter) of or relating to the Union army in the American Civil War.
-
(of the skin) discolored by cold, contusion, fear, or vascular collapse.
-
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
-
holding or offering little hope; dismal; bleak.
a blue outlook.
- Synonyms:
- gloomy
-
characterized by or stemming from rigid morals or religion.
statutes that were blue and unrealistic.
- Synonyms:
- strait-laced, puritanical, righteous
-
marked by blasphemy.
The air was blue with oaths.
-
(of an animal's pelage) grayish-blue.
-
indecent; somewhat obscene; risqué.
a blue joke or film.
-
Politics.
-
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.
-
British. politically conservative.
-
verb (used with object)
-
blues,
present (3rd person singular)
-
blued,
past participle, past
-
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
-
out of the blue, suddenly and unexpectedly.
The inheritance came out of the blue as a stroke of good fortune.
-
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
-
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
-
the honour of so representing one's university
-
-
an informal name for Tory
-
any of numerous small blue-winged butterflies of the genera Lampides, Polyommatus , etc: family Lycaenidae
-
archaic short for bluestocking
-
slang a policeman
-
archery a blue ring on a target, between the red and the black, scoring five points
-
a blue ball in snooker, etc
-
another name for blueing
-
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
-
informal a mistake; error
-
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
-
(of the flesh) having a purple tinge, as from cold or contusion
-
depressed, moody, or unhappy
-
dismal or depressing
a blue day
-
indecent, titillating, or pornographic
blue films
-
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
-
relating to, supporting, or representing the Democratic Party Compare red 1
verb
-
to make, dye, or become blue
-
(tr) to treat (laundry) with blueing
-
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
-
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:
People posted on social media, reporting "crazy queues" for the shuttle bus and blue flashing lights on the main road outside the stadium.
From BBC ● Aug. 16, 2026
It appeared extremely blue and was producing X-rays.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 16, 2026
Particularly revealing are the blue columns, which show what your return would have been if you missed both the indicated number of best days and that same number of worst days.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 14, 2026
Now, a parade of mining companies hoping to ride the boom are trying to grab attention by wrapping themselves in red, white and blue.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 14, 2026
Father held the baby close, his white beard brushed its cheek, looking into the little face with eyes as blue and innocent as the baby’s own.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Beignet Investor, a holding company that owns the Blue Owl stake, raised the construction financing in a bond sale.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 17, 2026
The company, which was bought by Blue Apron in 2017, has operations across the world.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 16, 2026
Blue sharks can reach more than three metres in length and feed in open water on fish, squid, smaller sharks and sea birds.
From BBC ● Aug. 13, 2026
Hybrids and EVs are generally more expensive than gas-guzzling cars, with the average new EV sales price over $56,000 in June, according to Kelley Blue Book.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Then, only a few bars into “The Blue Danube” waltz, there among us strode Lord Peter, Mouse Equerry.
From "Secrets at Sea" by Richard Peck
Researchers have found that, more often than not, the end-of-summer blues lead to stock market weakness.
From MarketWatch ● Aug. 13, 2026
Holland holds onto his buoyancy even as his character battles the blues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 30, 2026
Keep the post-World Cup blues at bay by watching these 15 international series.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 29, 2026
This watershed boxed set features cutting-edge remasters of the singer’s 1920s recordings, substantiating her centrality in blues and beyond.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 20, 2026
It wasn’t the music of the blues clubs.
From "Clayton Byrd Goes Underground" by Rita Williams-Garcia
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
Because the dust blocked shorter, bluer wavelengths, the star’s appearance shifted dramatically toward red.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 9, 2025
Will more of them leave for bluer pastures now that the man in charge has made explicit that he crushes the reach of links?
From Slate ● Nov. 26, 2024
The sky’s gone blue: azure, the ocean bluer: cerulean, the trees are swirls of every hella freaking green on earth and bright thick eggy yellow is spilling over everything.
From "I'll Give You the Sun" by Jandy Nelson
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
Also on the letter was Ritchie Torres of New York’s 15th District, similarly one of the bluest districts in America; erstwhile Democratic presidential wannabe Dean Phillips of Minnesota; and California’s newest senator-to-be, Adam Schiff.
From Slate ● Apr. 30, 2024
She cries, "You swore that you loved me, but where were the clues? I died on the altar waiting for the proof. You sacrificed us to the gods of your bluest day."
From Salon ● Apr. 19, 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
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
From the standpoint of a stationary observer, light reflected off you is reddened as you depart and blued as you return.
From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan
Wash blue, or blueing, is a laundry product with iron powder and just a hint of blue dye.
From Salon ● Mar. 17, 2021
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
The Glen Alden Coal Co. of Buffalo and Rochester, N. Y., has made the last wash a blueing process.
From Time Magazine Archive
Let the pupils take turns at washing the towels or aprons; examine each article after it is washed, and give careful directions for the boiling, blueing, and starching.
From Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Science in Rural Schools by Ontario. Ministry of Education
Last week when they have tableaux, Patty has borrowed it and has dyed it with blueing to make a beard for Bluebeard.
From Just Patty by C. M. (Charles Mark) Relyea
Anyone in area suffering symptoms such as breathlessness, wheezing, or bluing of lips and fingers is advised to contact the NHS 111 helpline.
From BBC ● Mar. 4, 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
“But what a lot of work to boil the clothes in the large pots with the bluing powder.”
From "Across So Many Seas" by Ruth Behar
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.
