scarlet

[ skahr-lit ]
See synonyms for scarlet on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. a bright-red color inclining toward orange.

  2. cloth or clothing of this color.

adjective
  1. of the color scarlet.

  2. flagrantly offensive: Their sins were scarlet.

Origin of scarlet

1
1200–50; Middle English <Old French escarlate<Medieval Latin scarlata, scarletum, perhaps <Arabic saqirlāṭ, siqillāṭ<Medieval Greek sigillátos<Latin sigillātus decorated with patterns in relief; see sigillate

Words Nearby scarlet

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use scarlet in a sentence

  • Its pages are filled with the purple gowns of kings and the scarlet trappings of the warrior.

  • Under the long lashes of low lids a pair of eyes black and insolent set off the haughty lines of her scarlet lips.

    St. Martin's Summer | Rafael Sabatini
  • The scarlet calico canopy was again set up over the bed, and the woven cradle, on its red manzanita frame, stood near.

    Ramona | Helen Hunt Jackson
  • As she peered into the face of Dr. Ashton, her own was scarlet and yellow, and her voice rose to a shriek.

    Elster's Folly | Mrs. Henry Wood
  • It seemed; it truly seemed as if the tide of blue, grey, scarlet specks was submerging the enemy's strongholds.

British Dictionary definitions for scarlet

scarlet

/ (ˈskɑːlɪt) /


noun
  1. a vivid red colour, sometimes with an orange tinge

  2. cloth or clothing of this colour

adjective
  1. of the colour scarlet

  2. sinful or immoral, esp unchaste

Origin of scarlet

1
C13: from Old French escarlate fine cloth, of unknown origin

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012