cinnabar
Americannoun
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a mineral, mercuric sulfide, HgS, occurring in red crystals or masses: the principal ore of mercury.
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red mercuric sulfide, used as a pigment.
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bright red; vermillion.
noun
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a bright red or brownish-red mineral form of mercuric sulphide (mercury(II) sulphide), found close to areas of volcanic activity and hot springs. It is the main commercial source of mercury. Formula: HgS. Crystal structure: hexagonal
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the red form of mercuric sulphide (mercury(II) sulphide), esp when used as a pigment
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a bright red to reddish-orange; vermilion
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a large red-and-black European moth, Callimorpha jacobaeae: family Arctiidae (tiger moths, etc)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of cinnabar
1350–1400; < Latin cinnabaris < Greek kinnábari < ?; replacing Middle English cynoper < Medieval Latin, Latin as above
Vocabulary lists containing cinnabar
Red
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Orange
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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.
The skull had also been colored with cinnabar, a bright red pigment commonly used in ancient Peruvian funerary traditions.
From Science Daily ● Oct. 18, 2026
The peacock butterfly caterpillars flailed their bodies—and even bit at the electrodes—about 1.4 times longer, whereas the cinnabar and vapourer caterpillars spent 175 times and 3.3 times longer coiled into tight balls.
From Science Magazine ● May 20, 2024
Her house's door and window is painted red after the colouring of the cinnabar ore.
From Reuters ● May 11, 2023
Never mind the adjective, I was mercury: quicksilver, Hg, hydrargyrum, ore of cinnabar, resistant to herding, incapable of assuming a fixed form.
From Salon ● Oct. 22, 2022
His paintings are great impastos of pigment: chrome yellow, Prussian blue, vermilion, carmine, very light cinnabar green, emerald green, Veronese green, orange, lemon chrome yellow, geranium lake, silver white, zinc white....
From "Vincent and Theo: The Van Gogh Brothers" by Deborah Heiligman
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Get a wordDefinitions 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.
