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.
Printing. blueline.
the blue,
the sky.
the sea.
the remote distance.
They've vanished into the blue somewhere.
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.
holding or offering little hope; dismal; bleak.
a blue outlook.
characterized by or stemming from rigid morals or religion.
statutes that were blue and unrealistic.
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.
to make blue; dye a blue color.
to tinge with bluing.
Don't blue your clothes till the second rinse.
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.
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
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
into the unknown or the far distance
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
to make, dye, or become blue
(tr) to treat (laundry) with blueing
slang (tr) to spend extravagantly or wastefully; squander
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
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.
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Usually, all that blue would have felt like a gift.
From Salon ● Jul. 28, 2026
Sainz received a five-second penalty for that incident, as did Haas driver Oliver Bearman for failing to respect blue flags when he was being lapped by Red Bull's Isack Hadjar.
From BBC ● Jul. 28, 2026
"At first I thought my husband was joking, with the blue sky and the fires dying down," she said.
From Barron's ● Jul. 28, 2026
The site has also attracted blue herons, kingfishers, otters, deer, bears, California condors and a resident herd of elk notorious for tearing up new seedlings.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 28, 2026
Father had snapped off the set and in his blue eyes was a fire we had never seen before.
From "The Hiding Place" by Corrie ten Boom
Blue Origin, Stoke Space and United Launch Alliance all plan more launches from that region, as does SpaceX.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 28, 2026
Species that can be recorded during the survey include the Peacock, Holly Blue, Red Admiral, Brimstone and Small Copper.
From BBC ● Jul. 26, 2026
Tariff costs have added anywhere between $1,600 and $9,000 to new-car prices this year, according to Kelley Blue Book.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 25, 2026
Yeah, we knew that when they beat the Blue Jays.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 24, 2026
Back when Mom worked, she was in the lab constantly, especially in those last few months with the Cobalt Blue Orchid, sacrificing late nights, weekends, even holidays.
From "The Science of Breakable Things" by Tae Keller
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
She described the large seascape in its unforgettable blues, the watercolors of trees, the misty quality of the skies.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 18, 2026
Hip-hop is their common language, but Robinson is also fluent in blues and spirituals while Quijada speaks forcefully through Mexican folk rhythms.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
Symbols that the pioneering assemblage artist has been “remixing” for more than seven decades — stars, moons, eyes, hands — emerge in vibrant washes of magenta, teal and her favored crepuscular blues.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 15, 2026
A trail of blues floated across her mind as his car turned the corner, drifting away and then disappearing, just like him.
From "Far from the Tree" by Robin Benway
A few days after the initial flash, it brightened again, shifted to bluer light, and showed hydrogen in its spectra.
From Science Daily ● Apr. 24, 2026
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
Grammy begins to tear up, making her eyes look bluer.
From "Shouting at the Rain" by Lynda Mullaly Hunt
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 Tikka T3 Deluxe features a blued T3-barreled action in a high-grade walnut stock with classic three-point checkering, a rosewood forend tip and a grip cap with an antique silver-colored T3 medallion.
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
She done out a tub of clothes on Monday, but she starched ’em afore they was wrenched, and blued a pink calico dress till I thought I should a died a laughin.
From "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott
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
They are to be washed a third time in a stronger soap liquor, made hot and tinged with blueing, and rinsed in clean water.
From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849
Blueing: Open out each piece and place one or two at a time in a tub of blueing water for just a moment; wring tightly, and shake out each piece.
From Ontario Teachers' Manuals: Household Management by Ontario. Ministry of Education
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
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.
