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:
Bold purple and magenta animations of galloping warriors silhouetted against rustling pines cover entire walls.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Mar. 7, 2026
There are dozens of her favored shirt form, each made from the same sewing pattern in colors ranging anywhere from beige to a deep magenta.
From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 3, 2025
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
One tuft was of two colors, magenta and brick red, apparently growing on the same root.
From "1984" by George Orwell
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
Operation Magenta, which follows three previous investigations by Hampshire Constabulary that resulted in no prosecutions, said 21 people were being investigated for alleged gross negligence manslaughter and three for alleged health and safety offences.
From BBC ● Oct. 10, 2024
Carol Butler described a passage from “Beyond Magenta: Transgender Teens Speak Out,” a critically-acclaimed book that has been banned in several U.S. school districts, where it has been deemed anti-family and inappropriate for children.
From Seattle Times ● Jan. 24, 2024
But the best strength of Germany was now united under a new Constitution, after a war which made the achievements at Magenta, Solferino and in the Crimea seem tame.
From A History of Germany From the Earliest Times to the Present Day by Bayard Taylor
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
If I don't have emerald greens and magentas and lilacs, I just have Kiko.
From "Starfish" by Akemi Dawn Bowman
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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.
