colorful
AmericanUsage
What does colorful mean? Colorful literally means full of color, especially a lot of different bright colors. It can also be used in a figurative way to mean rich with interesting or vividly depicted elements, such as characters or events. For example, a colorful story is one with a lot of interesting parts, locations, and especially colorful characters—people with unique (or eccentric) personalities and ways of life. A place like a restaurant or nightclub might be said to have a colorful history, meaning a lot of very interesting or unusual things have happened there. The phrase colorful language is a euphemism—it’s a polite way of referring to language that contains a lot of curse words, obscenities, or other potentially offensive terms. Colorful is sometimes used in this way in other situations as a euphemistic or humorous way of implying that something is a bit seedy, shady, or outside the mainstream, as in That place is known to have a colorful clientele, if you know what I mean—a lot of shady deals go down there. Example: The history of the museum is as colorful as the paintings that hang on its walls—it has seen some truly bizarre happenings over the years.
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of colorful
Explanation
Things that are colorful are brightly colored or have many different colors. A brilliant red cardinal is a colorful bird, while a brown sparrow isn't quite as colorful. Some nutrition experts recommend eating a colorful diet, including vegetables and fruits of varied colors for optimum health. A colorful bouquet of flowers would be equally varied, perhaps with white daisies, pink roses, blue violets, and yellow carnations. Brilliantly colored things are colorful too, like a tree with orange leaves in the fall. Figuratively, colorful language is rude or coarse, and a colorful group of friends is interesting and varied.
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.
"They are extremely colorful and can be spotted on coral reef ecosystems. However, many nudibranchs are very small in size and are extremely difficult to spot underwater with the naked eye."
From Science Daily • May 27, 2026
With the help of the flock, Lily eventually weeds out George’s murderer among the colorful townspeople, but not before “The Sheep Detectives” lands a couple of remarkable gut punches.
From Salon • May 25, 2026
They’re colorful playthings, at least until the background scenery starts depicting various locomotive styles.
From Los Angeles Times • May 20, 2026
Claire’s first advertising campaign under the new owners is a dreamlike, colorful celebration of the five senses featuring bubble writing, gummy candies, press-on nails and the requisite slime in digital, social media and influencer ads.
From The Wall Street Journal • May 16, 2026
Some of the cases have rocks and moss and long, slithery bugs crawling in them, and others are filled with water and colorful fish.
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
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.
