pastel

1
[ pa-stel; especially British pas-tl ]
See synonyms for: pastelpastels on Thesaurus.com

noun
  1. a color having a soft, subdued shade.

  2. a kind of dried paste made of pigments ground with chalk and compounded with gum water.

  1. a chalklike crayon made from such paste.

  2. the art of drawing with such crayons.

  3. a drawing so made.

  4. a short, light prose study or sketch.

adjective
  1. having a soft, subdued shade.

  2. drawn with pastels: a pastel portrait.

Origin of pastel

1
First recorded in 1610–20; from French, from Italian pastello, from Late Latin pastellus, variant of Latin pastillus pastille

Words Nearby pastel

Other definitions for pastel (2 of 2)

pastel2
[ pas-tel ]

noun
  1. the woad plant.

  2. the dye made from it.

Origin of pastel

2
First recorded in 1570–80; from Middle French pastel “woad,” from Provençal, from Medieval Latin pastellum (neuter) “woad” (originally “woad paste”), for Late Latin pastellus (masculine), diminutive of pasta paste

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

How to use pastel in a sentence

British Dictionary definitions for pastel

pastel

/ (ˈpæstəl, pæˈstɛl) /


noun
    • a substance made of ground pigment bound with gum, used for making sticks for drawing

    • a crayon of this

    • a drawing done in such crayons

  1. the medium or technique of pastel drawing

  1. a pale delicate colour

  2. a light prose work, esp a poetic one

  3. another name for woad

adjective
  1. (of a colour) pale; delicate: pastel blue

Origin of pastel

1
C17: via French from Italian pastello, from Late Latin pastellus woad compounded into a paste, diminutive of pasta paste 1

Derived forms of pastel

  • pastelist or pastellist, noun

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