magenta
noun
magenta
1 American
[muh-jen-tuh]
/ məˈdʒɛn tə /
Magenta
2
American
[muh-jen-tuh]
/ məˈdʒɛn tə /
noun
magenta
British
/ məˈdʒɛntə /
noun
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a deep purplish red that is the complementary colour of green and, with yellow and cyan, forms a set of primary colours
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( as adjective )
a magenta filter
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another name for fuchsin
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of magenta
After Magenta, because the dye was discovered the year of the battle.
Explanation
Magenta is a bright reddish-purple color. If you dye your hair magenta, you'll really stand out in a crowd. Magenta is a shade that's related to colors like fire engine-red and hot pink — it's deep and bold. The color called fuchsia is nearly the same, a mixture of red and blue that's across from green on a color wheel (in other words, green is magenta's complementary color). Magenta-colored dye was first produced in the 1850s, and the color was named after the 1859 "Battle of Magenta" in the Second Italian War of Independence.
Vocabulary lists containing magenta
Pink
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Purple
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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:
If the atmosphere of the world could be depicted by an Erewhon beverage, it wouldn’t be a vibrant, cheerful one, like the bright magenta Pitaya Smoothie.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 25, 2026
Bold purple and magenta animations of galloping warriors silhouetted against rustling pines cover entire walls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
All are Harlequins jerseys, but none are in the club's trademark colours of blue, magenta, brown and grey.
From BBC ● Dec. 27, 2024
In 2022, this magenta state produced a balanced delegation of seven Republicans and seven Democrats, very likely a fair representation of voter preferences.
From Salon ● Dec. 1, 2024
Stacy always wears a lot of glittery eye makeup, and her black hair is streaked with bright magenta highlights.
From "A Good Kind of Trouble" by Lisa Moore Ramée
Magenta Fox, one of the members of the community Ehrenkranz created, has been laid off since 2023.
From Salon ● Jun. 3, 2025
“Crash” and “Yellowstone” producer Bob Yari chose JT Mollner’s “Strange Darling” — a cannily time-shuffled reworking of “final girl” slasher tropes — to launch his indie film distribution company, Magenta Light.
From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 3, 2024
Officers working on Operation Magenta have so far looked at more than three million pages of documents, including the medical records of more than 750 patients.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2024
The ground floor gallery at Magenta Plains is configured as a chapel — but of what faith?
From New York Times ● Aug. 3, 2023
On the 4th June was fought the battle of Magenta, for the liberation of Italy; and he entered Milan the next morning in company with Victor Emmanuel.
From The Browning Cyclop?dia A Guide to the Study of the Works of Robert Browning by Edward Berdoe
The colours are vivid, intense and ever-changing: pinks, magentas and turquoise hues, glowing like neon lights.
From BBC ● May 25, 2025
An Oregon State University researcher who made color history in 2009 with a vivid blue pigment has developed durable, reddish magentas inspired by lunar mineralogy and ancient Egyptian chemistry.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 16, 2024
At the mixing station, Andrea Arriola-Pinto swirled light magentas, indigos and dark purples in four separate dishes like an artist mixing paint.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 14, 2022
"The moodiness of burgundys, magentas, and even deep blues bring in such a fabulous pop of color and beckon the chillier, crisper autumnal days ahead," she notes.
From Salon ● Sep. 24, 2021
The jewel tones shift from ocean blues to cobalts and magentas, from crimson reds to sunflower yellows.
From "The Belles" by Dhonielle Clayton
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
